


One time she punched me in the face, it was awesome!

by CaptainRomanogers



Category: Black Widow (Movie 2020), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teenagers, F/M, Mean Girls Quotes, Mean Girls References, Principal Phil Coulson, Protective Nick Fury, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:15:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27194977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainRomanogers/pseuds/CaptainRomanogers
Summary: Natasha was a new student at Northshore High School in Evanston. Having never gone to school before, makes it an extra special adventure. Especially when she befriends Maria Hill and Clint Barton, meets the Plastics and falls for the forbidden fruit in the form of Steve Rogers.I present to you: the Marvel Mean Girls Edition nobody asked for. Enjoy!You know how the story goes, so just bear with me please.
Relationships: Clint Barton & Maria Hill & Natasha Romanov, Sharon Carter/Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov
Comments: 20
Kudos: 82





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic so please be kind. Feedback is always welcome, but try to be nice. English is not my first language.

It was almost the first day of school. For most teenagers, it was the most dreaded day of the year. It meant the end of long hot summer days spent at the beach, sitting around a bonfire, drinking a beer, talking about God and the world. But Natasha Romanoff wasn’t like most teens. She had never set foot in a school before, so while all the kids in Evanston were nearing the day of getting back to their well-known routines, Natasha and her sister, Yelena, were very optimistic. Nervous too, but mostly optimistic. 

After travelling on the African continent with their adoptive father Nick Fury, Nick’s best friend and their home tutor, Carol Danvers and her wife, Natasha and Yelena had mixed feelings about the family settling down in Nick’s hometown. The longest time they had stayed in one place before was before they were adopted from the orphanage at ages 8 and 10. After that they didn’t spend more than a few months in the same city/town. 

Settling down in one place wasn’t all too bad though. Nick had been able to enroll Natasha at the Northshore High School where one of his friends and former colleagues, Phil Coulson, is the principal. After doing some cognitive tests to see at what language and maths levels the girls were at, Natasha was able to start as a sophomore. Except for maths. Natasha was a genius when it came to mathematics so she was able to take an eleventh grade maths class. Meanwhile Yelena would start in eighth grade at the neighbouring Northshore Junior High. 

Over the summer, the father and his two daughters moved into a renovated farmhouse not too far away from the beach. Both girls would be getting their own room for the very first time since forever, so they were both very excited about that. A new room came with new decorations to make it more personal, so Nick decided to go to the nearest home decor shop with his two daughters. Both of them got a fixed budget and they could buy whatever they wanted with that money. Nick Fury was a free-spirited father like that. Very open-minded, very generous, but not one to mess with and both girls knew where his limits were and to never cross them. 

Once at the store everyone seemed to go their own way. Natasha, being organised as always, had made a list of the stuff she wanted in her new room. She needed some organisers for her desk, some nice plants to have a bit of green inside, some picture frames to make sure she could have a daily reminder of her adventures overseas and there was this large canvas of a ballerina she had seen in the online catalogue of the store done in black and red. Upon seeing it, she knew immediately that she wanted it. For some reason it just fit. She had always been inspired by ballet, probably because it reminded her of her time in Russia. 

Within forty minutes of browsing through the store her shopping cart was filled with a few succulents, that one organiser in mint green that would go so well with the colour of her bed frame and various picture frames, because you can never have enough of those. The canvas that she saved a spot for on her bedroom wall was nowhere to be found yet. She checked the floor plan again, to see if there could be another area in the store where the canvas could be, but there was only one area that covered “wall decoration” and that was the corner she was at. Luckily, she saw a guy in what she assumed was a store uniform that might be able to help her. She walked up to him and gave him a tap on his shoulder. 

The guy was taller than Natasha and a lot younger than she had expected when she saw his face. He couldn’t be much older than she was. He had piercing blue eyes and some short tufts of blond hair peaked underneath his cap. A cap that wore the four-lettered store logo too, RD&M (Rogers Decor & More). His name tag read Steve. 

“Hi, Steve, is it?” she started. The guy in the uniform, Steve, nodded. “Can I ask you a question?” Natasha asked.   
“At your service,” he responded with a bright smile on his face. He’d done this before, that was for sure.   
“I was looking for this canvas with a ballerina on it, I saw it in your online catalogue, but I can’t seem to find it in the store.”   
“Right, I remember those, red and black, right?”  
“Yes!”  
“I think the last one was sold yesterday, but I can check in with the guys working at the warehouse if they still have one stocked. Just give me a second.” 

After that _Steve_ pulled out a small burner phone out of his front pocket and started dialing the warehouse number. He started pacing around a bit a few feet away so he could have a moment to do the phone call and that was when Natasha got a better view of him. She was never one to check a guy out, maybe because she never had many girlfriends to do it with or because she barely got into contact with guys her age while having to travel from one place to another, but Steve, he looked good. Broad shoulders, small waist, nice ass… Before she knew it he was in front of her again, wearing an apologetic look on his face, so she had a feeling he didn’t have the best of news for her. 

“I’m sorry, but we don’t have them in stock anymore. I could order one for you, though and then you could leave me your name and number so someone at the store could call you when your order has come in. Would that be okay with you?” 

When Steve stopped talking and looked at her expectantly, Natasha knew he probably just asked a question, but she completely missed it since she just realised how good this guy smelled and how nice his teeth looked. Damn it. 

“Yeah, sure, that’s okay,” she responded. Assuming he just gave her the bad news because of the face he made after the phone call. Natasha was about to leave Steve’s side and find her father and sister when Steve stopped her.   
“You didn’t give me your number,” he said.  
“My number?” Natasha asked. Did he really just ask for her number and she completely missed it because she was ogling him?   
“Yeah, so we can call you when your order is in.”  
“Right, sorry. Let me check my phone first, I just moved here from Africa so I don’t know it by heart yet,” she responded, laughing nervously. Was she developing a crush already? When had she become so shallow? 

In the end, Natasha left Steve with her name and contact info. The order could take up a few weeks since the canvas would be shipped in from overseas. On the ride home, Natasha played the moment between her and Steve over and over again in her head. So he didn’t ask her for her number, because he wanted her number. Was that even a real thing or did that just happen in the movies? Natasha still had so much to learn about living life as a teenager, more specifically an American high school-going teenager. Oh well, she still had two weeks to prepare herself, before September came around and the real world would begin. 


	2. The first day of school was a blur.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha goes to school for the first time.

It was 6.30 am when the first rays of sunshine peeked through the bamboo blinds in Natasha’s room. Fifteen minutes later Rip Her To Shreds by Blondie would start blaring through the new radio alarm clock Natasha had gotten from her father a week earlier. Today was the first day of school and while school didn’t start until 8.45 am, she wanted to be ready. 

Nick Fury wasn’t one to get sentimental out in the open, but when he saw his two girls standing on the front porch of their new farm house, both ready to leave for school he felt proud. He insisted on dropping them off on their first day because whether he wanted to admit it or not, he was one of those overprotective fathers that would never completely let his girls leave his side. Having them home-schooled with Carol, he knew they were in good hands. Leaving them behind at Phil’s school somewhat gave him a safe feeling, but he knows they will still be mostly on their own for the whole day. 

Like in every family, the first day of school wasn’t complete without the obligatory front porch, backpack-wearing picture. After the snapshot was taken and Fury gave them their first day of school pep talk, Natasha and Yelena hopped into the car, ready to go. 

“So you ladies packed your lunch?” Nick asked. The sisters could tell he was far more nervous than they were, but it was nice to know they had a father that cared about them so much.   
“What about your phone numbers? I wrote them down for you and asked to put them in your school bags,” his worried parent came peeping through again.   
“Nick, we’ll be fine. It’s just school. Teenagers go there every day, we’ll be careful. What bad things could happen anyways?” 

* * *

The first day of school was a blur. A stressful, surreal blur. The first bell rang and Natasha was nowhere near finding the right classroom. The lady at the front desk had told her where to go, but the school had so many side wings and extra buildings, it was almost a miracle she made it in time for the second bell signal. Walking into the classroom, she noticed most students were already sitting at a table, chatting away with their friends talking about the gossip they had discovered over the summer, but she noticed one girl was standing on her own. If she wanted to make a new friend, she could try and talk to her. 

“Hi, I don’t know if anyone here has told you about me yet, but I am new here. My name’s Natasha Romanoff,” Natasha said with a friendly smile. The girl looked back unimpressed, offended even.   
“Talk to me ever again and I will kick your ass,” she yelled and proceeded to one of the desks in the front row. 

A few other students must have overheard because Natasha heard a fit of giggles coming from behind her after that. When she looked in the direction of the laughter, she saw a girl with black hair, black clothes and black makeup. Behind her was a blond boy fully clothed in black too. They were laughing at her encounter with her new classmate, but they also seemed to have a bit of sympathy for her so she started walking up to them and was about to sit in the seat in front of them when the girl with black hair spoke up: “You don’t want to sit there, Betty Ross’s boyfriend is gonna sit over there.”   
As if on cue a nerdy-looking guy with glasses, a purple shirt and dark brown curls walks up to the desk. The rude girl, Betty Ross apparently, welcomes him with a sloppy kiss that surely breaks the rules of PDA considered acceptable at school. 

Natasha distances herself from the scene unfolding in front of her with a slightly disgusted face and walks up to another empty desk at the side of the classroom behind a guy wearing an ant-themed t-shirt. Before sitting down she is stopped again by the same girl: “I wouldn’t sit there, he farts a lot.” The boy sitting behind her nods in agreement. 

Right before she could occupy the next open desk, someone else slides in. Making Natasha wander through the classroom, checking if there was still an open desk somewhere. Right when she spotted an available spot at the other side of the classroom, she missed the teacher walking in and before she knew it, her back collided with the teacher’s front. Coffee and donuts spilling everywhere. 

“I am so sorry,” Natasha apologised as she was trying to help save some of the donuts off of the floor. Meanwhile, Melinda May, Northshore’s physics and maths teacher, was trying to take off the top layer of clothing that had spilt coffee on it when principal Coulson walked into the classroom. What Mrs. May hadn’t noticed was that the coffee had made both layers of clothing stick together so there she was standing in front of the class, providing all the students with a view they shouldn’t be seeing. The only reason the class wasn’t laughing or catcalling her, was probably because of the principal’s presence. Natasha helped cover her teacher up a bit when principal Coulson approached her and started making some small talk. Natasha had a feeling she was intruding when she heard them talk about Mrs. May’s divorce, but she kept quiet and pretended to not hear their private conversation. 

Phil Coulson then addressed the classroom to make an announcement. An announcement about Natasha. Great, now she didn’t have to tell everyone she was the new girl herself. 

“I just wanted to let everyone know that we have a new student joining us today, she just moved here from Africa,” he announced.   
“Welcome,” said Mrs. May to nobody in particular.   
Coulson looked at Natasha, who was still in front of the classroom with them and said: “Welcome Natalia Romanova, that is a mouthful.”   
“Oh, that’s my Russian name,” Natasha answered, “I go by my American name now, Natasha Romanoff.”   
“Welcome Natasha Romanoff,” he repeated after her.   
“Yes, Welcome, Natasha and thank you principal Coulson,” Mrs. May said. Making it clear she would like to start with the first physics class of the year.   
“Good day, everybody,” principal Coulson said to the class before leaving and probably heading back to his office. Natasha saw that as her cue to take the empty seat in the back of the class and start to get her focus on for the day. Physics, like maths, was one of her favourites. Today was going to be just fine. 

But it wasn’t. The first day of school didn’t start off all that well for Natasha with that awkward encounter during first period, but it didn’t get any better after that. She just wasn’t used to not being trusted by adults. With Carol it was as if being taught by an older sister or a young aunt. She and Yelena always had fun with Carol and there weren’t many rules. Not that there were any rules needed. Natasha and Yelena were always eager to learn so it wasn’t as if they were giving Carol a hard time. If they finished their teaching sessions early and Nick wasn’t back home from work yet, Carol would take the girls on a hike through the region in Wakanda they were staying at together with her wife, Val. Natasha hadn’t had much time to miss Carol and Val yet, but she sure did today. 

It would take her some time to adjust and become the model student she aspired to be. That meant trying to not get in trouble as much as she did today. She got into trouble for the most random things. Going to the toilet, reading ahead of the class, using a green pen, getting up to fill up her bottle of water… Adults normally never yelled at her, not even Nick. She wished to never be at the receiving end of him yelling after she had seen him like that when he coached the local football team in the town they stayed at the first few months in Africa. 

As if the constant yelling at her wasn’t enough, Natasha had a hard time making friends. At noon she walked into the cafeteria after getting her ‘first day of school welcoming gift’ in the form of a juice box from the counter. She had hoped to at least be able to sit with someone to have lunch with, but whenever she walked up to a table, the occupants made it very clear she wasn’t welcome. There was one table that seemed okay with her joining them, it was a table with three boys, but when she got closer she overheard them discussing boobs and nipples and that _really_ wasn’t her thing. She ended up eating her lunch in one of the bathroom stalls. Natasha'd had a lot of friends in Africa, but so far none in Evanston. 

The last bell signal indicated the end of an exhausting day, Natasha was relieved she could go back home. Back to her safe haven. Away from the horribly mean and resentful students and away from the hostile adults. She’d told herself she wouldn’t show Nick how bad her day had gone, she really wanted to not make him feel guilty for moving back here. Something she knew he already did, but when she got home and saw him and Yelena having a great time discussing her first day, she knew she would fail herself. 

Before he had even finished asking her about her first day, the tears had welled up inside her eyes and she ran up to her room. Luckily for her, Nick knew when to leave her alone, so that is what he did. 

Once back in her room, Natasha tried to calm herself down. This was just one bad day. She hadn’t even met all of her teachers yet, tomorrow she’d have her first math class. That was something to look forward to. She could do this. 

She felt a little more confident again after putting her mind at ease. She started unpacking her school bag to set herself up to make her first homework ever. While doing so, she noticed her phone still sitting in there. She wasn’t really used to having one, so it wasn’t like she had it on her all the time. She hoped Nick hadn’t texted her during the day, because then she had unintentionally made him worried by not answering. She opened her flip phone and saw that she had one missed call from an unknown number. They left a voicemail so she decided to listen to the message right away. A female voice was heard and finally for the first time today something good happened. While Natasha listened to the message, her face lit up. 

_“Hello, Natasha, this is Sarah Rogers speaking from RD &M. You left your number with Steve, my son, to inform you when your order had arrived at the store. Your red and black ballerina canvas is available now. We will keep it aside for a week so you have some time to come and pick it up. I look forward to seeing you back at the store. Have a nice day!” _

And a nice day it could be again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That is chapter 2 for you. I hope you liked it. 
> 
> Constructive feedback is always welcome or you can leave a kudo. 
> 
> Next chapter: Natasha will make some 'friends'. Any guesses who those friends will be?


	3. On Wednesdays we wear pink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha makes some friends and some "friends" on her second day of school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 3 for you. 
> 
> Still my first fanfic and English is not my first language so be nice if you want to give me feedback. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Day two. Natasha was determined to get to her classroom earlier this time. No embarrassing coffee moments with teachers, no more looking for an empty desk. She had her mind set to be there before Betty Ross and her boyfriend Bruce Banner started making out again, or before Scott ‘fartman’ Lang had a chance to take up a seat at the front. So she was early. 

She spotted the boy and the girl in black again from yesterday and since they were the only ones that didn’t treat her all that bad the day before, she decided to sit close to them. Just like yesterday, they noticed her and acknowledged her. 

“Is that your natural hair colour?” the guy asked. Natasha nodded in response. 

“It’s gorgeous! See, that’s the colour I want,” the guy said and held Natasha’s ponytail close to his head. The girl laughed at the interaction. “This is Clint Barton for you, he’s almost too gay to function,” the girl introduced the guy. 

Before Natasha could respond one of their classmates walked up to them: “Nice wig, Maria, what’s it made of?” he asked. Why were teenagers so rude to each other? 

“Your mom’s chest hair,” the girl, Maria, answered, “I am Maria Hill by the way.” 

“Hi, I am Natasha,” the redhead responded with a smile. That was the moment the teacher decided to walk in and the class could start. English class would be alright. Natasha had a lot of it covered with Carol already she noticed as the class went on and the teacher explained this year’s curriculum. If the other classes coming her way were going to be as easy as this, she would be fine on that part of ‘school’. 

* * *

The next period, Natasha had health care class in room G14. Given the letter in front of the room’s name, she assumed it was in one of the other buildings on campus. Since Maria was sitting next to her, she might as well ask her.

“Hey, do you know where room G14 is?” Natasha asked her. 

“I think that’s in the back building,” she looked at Clint and winked at him. 

“Yes, yeah, that’s in the back building,” he nodded along. 

“It’s on the other side of the campus, don’t worry. We’ll take you there,” Maria said. 

“Oh, okay. Thanks,” Natasha responded. Finally people were talking to her and being nice. What a great start to her second day. 

* * *

The bell signaled that the first period was over and Maria and Clint would take Natasha to the back building. They guided her through the crowded hallway, all the way to the back entrance of the main building. Natasha didn’t know any better, so she just tagged along. It wasn’t until Maria and Clint sat down on the grass somewhere near the school’s football field that she started to notice that there wasn’t really a building here. 

“So, where is the back building?” she asked.

“It burned down in December, 1991,” Maria answered casually. 

“Won’t we get into some sort of trouble for this?” Natasha asked a bit nervously.  _ Bye bye model student status, forever. Nick better not find out about this.  _

“Why would we get you into trouble? We’re your friends,” Maria responded, Clint agreed. Natasha knew it was probably wrong to skip class, but Maria said they were friends and she was in no position to pass on friends, so she sat down and went with it. 

Maria asked her what it was like being home-schooled and why she decided to go to school eventually for the last few years. Natasha explained that she and Nick had discussed this and it would be good for her to get out there and socialise with people her age. 

“You’ll get socialised alright, a little slice like you,” Clint remarked all of a sudden. 

Natasha was surprised: “What are you talking about?”

“You’re a regulation hottie,” Maria chimed in. 

“What?” 

“Own it,” Clint reassured her and gave her a pat on the knee. 

“What did you say was your name again? Natalia?” Maria asked out of the blue while taking out a pen and paper. 

“That’s my original name, I changed it after the adoption. I go by Natasha now,” she explained. 

“Yeah, I’m going to call you Natalia,” Maria said. 

Before Natasha could respond, Clint noticed some movement on the football field. One of the PE classes had started and the students were storming out of the building. Two girls up front. One was on the phone, having a frantic discussion while the other seemed to have personalised her gym uniform in a somewhat inappropriate manner. 

“In the name of all that is holy, would you look at Wanda Maximoff’s gym clothes?” Clint blurted out. Maria looked up.

“Of course all the Plastics are in the same gym course,” she scolded. 

“Who are the Plastics?” Natasha wondered. 

“They’re like teen royalty. If Northshore was US Weekly, they would always be on the cover.”

“That one there is Wanda Maximoff,” Maria pointed to the girl with the personalised top, “she is one of the dumbest girls you will ever meet. Clint sat next to her in English class last year.”

“She asked me how to spell orange,” he added mockingly. Wanda was a short girl with brown hair and red highlights. Natasha had to admit, she looked gorgeous. Another girl, slightly taller, with strawberry blond hair started walking next to her. 

“That tall one on the phone, that’s Virginia “Pepper” Potts.”

“She’s totally rich because her dad invented Toaster Strudel.” 

“Pepper Potts has everybody’s business. She know everything about everyone.”

“That’s why her hair is so big. It’s full of secrets,” Clint whispered in a scary way. 

A group of guys came outside, carrying a blond girl on their shoulders who was entering the football field like a queen being carried by her staff outside of her palace. Maria started to explain: “And evil takes a human form in Sharon Carter. Don’t be fooled because she may seem like a typical selfish backstabbing slut-faced hoe-bag, but in reality she is so much more than that.” 

“She’s the queen bee, the star, those other two are just her little workers.”

“Sharon Carter, I have no idea how to begin to explain Sharon Carter.” 

“Well, here’s something,” Clint started, “She always looks fierce, she always wins Spring Fling Queen, or at least she did last year and the year before.” 

“Who cares?” Maria uttered. 

“I do, I care. Every year the seniors throw this dance for the underclassman called the ‘Spring Fling’. Whoever is elected Spring Fling King or Queen automatically becomes part of the student’s activity committee and as I am an active member of said committee, I would say that I do care.” Clint explained. 

“Wow, Clint, you truly outgayed yourself here,” Maria joked. 

“Here,” Maria said as she handed Natasha the piece of paper she was writing and drawing on before, “this map is going to be your guide to Northshore.” 

Natasha looked at the piece of paper that was just handed to her. It read ‘Natalia’s map to Northshore’. On the right side there was a drawing of the football field they were on with a little x and an arrow saying ‘you are here’. Next to the football field the main school building was pictured and where it read ‘cafeteria’, a wider frame popped out of it and provided Natasha with a detailed floor plan of who was to sit where during lunch. 

For third and fourth period Natasha, Maria and Clint decided to just attend their classes. Which meant Natasha’s newly drawn map of Northshore came in handy very quickly. Upon entering the cafeteria at lunchtime she saw that there was a long line for those who wanted a school lunch so she had time to study her map and take in the view. 

Just like on the map, close to the entrance of the cafeteria there were a few tables with freshman students, then came the Asgardian jocks, who had a rivalry with the other jocks. Natasha recognised the guys at the table from the day before as the guys that were discussing boobs and nipples. The following table was discussed as the uncool space nerds which consisted of a few boys, while next to them were the cool space nerds which consisted of a group of girls. Then there were a few other descriptions that were spot on like the girls that ate their feelings, girls that didn’t eat anything, desperate wannabes, burnouts, sexually active band geeks (where Natasha spotted Betty Ross and her boyfriend from the day before making out again), the greatest people you will ever meet (where Maria meant herself and Clint, of course) and in the middle of her map there was a table with a warning sign. ‘Beware of the Plastics’ it read. Natasha looked over to that table and saw Sharon Carter sitting in the middle with her two followers, Wanda and Pepper. 

After getting her lunch Natasha was walking up to Maria and Clint’s table when she was stopped by one of the guys that was sitting at the jocks table. 

“Hey, we’re doing a lunch time survey with new students. Can I ask you a few questions?” he asked. Natasha decided to play along. 

“Is your muffin buttered?” the guy asked, looking up at her from his survey questionnaire with dark brown eyes. The other jocks at the table behind him started snickering. 

“What?” Natasha asked flabbergasted. The guy looked at her with a smug smile. 

“Do you want us to assign someone to butter your muffin?” 

“My what?” Natasha asked, surprised again. 

“Is he bothering you?” a third voice spoke up next to them. Natasha looked sideways and saw that it belonged to Sharon Carter. She looked even more beautiful up close. Sharon had seen the scene in front of her while eating her lunch and she couldn't bear seeing it anymore. 

“Tony, why are you being such a skeez?” she directed herself at the dark-haired guy next to Natasha. 

“I am just being friendly,” he proclaimed defensively. The girl with the strawberry blond hair next to Sharon, Pepper, scowled at him. “You were supposed to call me last night,” she whispered. Why she whispered those words was unclear, since all five of them could clearly hear her. The guy, whose name was Tony apparently, laughed it off and ignored her. 

“Tony,” Sharon addressed him again, “you do not come to a party at my house with Pepper and then scam on some poor innocent girl right in front of us three days later. She’s not interested.” Before Tony could blurt out any more nonsense or start having a smug smile on his face again, Sharon directed herself at Natasha this time. “Do you want to have sex with him?” she asked. “No, thank you,” Natasha said very quickly without thinking twice. Tony’s smile dropped at her quick response. “Good, then it’s settled,” Sharon spoke up again. “You can go shave your back now, bye Tony,” she added. With that Tony sauntered off back to his table, his head hanging low. 

Natasha was back on her way to her own new spot in the cafeteria when Sharon instructed her to sit down. The redhead looked at her friends astonishedly, but when the blond insisted, she decided to just sit down. 

“Why don’t I know you?” Sharon asked. Showing genuine interest. 

“I am kinda new, I just moved here from Africa,” Natasha responded excitedly. 

“What?” Sharon asked confusedly.

“I used to be home-schooled.”

“Wait, what?”

“My father’s friend taught me at home…” 

“No, no, I know what homeschooled is. I’m not retarded,” Sharon interrupted. “So you’ve actually never been to a real school before?” she asked. Natasha shook her head in response. “Shut up…,” Sharon looked at her friends. “Shut up,” she repeated. 

“I didn’t say anything,” Natasha shrugged nervously. 

“Home-schooled, that’s like really interesting,” Sharon started. She looked like she couldn’t believe what she just heard. “You’re like really pretty,” she added. 

“Thank you,” Natasha said slightly blushing. 

“So you agree. You think you’re really pretty?” Before Natasha had time to respond, Sharon changed the topic. “Oh my God, I love your bracelet. Where did you get it?” she asked. 

“My sister made it and gave it to me,” Natasha answered proudly. She didn’t always get along great with Yelena, but her little sister meant the world to her and she liked to show it. 

“It’s adorable,” Sharon reassured her. 

“So fetch,” Pepper added. 

“What is fetch?” Sharon asked, she was clearly annoyed by Pepper’s interruption. 

“It’s like slang, from England,” she replied. Wanda, who had remained quiet through all this, felt like this was her moment to ask a question too. 

“So if you’re from Africa, why are you white?” she asked confusedly. 

“Oh my God, Wanda, you can’t just ask people why they’re white,” Pepper said. 

“Could you give us some privacy for like one second?” Sharon asked Natasha. 

“Sure,” she nodded. To which Sharon, Wanda and Pepper put their heads together and started whispering. Natasha looked to her left where she saw Clint and Maria looking at her. Muttering questions her way. Natasha just shrugged. When she looked back at the Plastics, they were done whispering and Sharon spoke to her: “Okay, you should just know that we don’t do this a lot, so this is like a really huge deal.” 

“We want to invite you to have lunch with us every day for the rest of the week,” Pepper said. 

“Oh, that’s ok-” but before Natasha could brush off their proposal, Sharon interrupted her. 

“Coolness, see you tomorrow,” she offered with a wide smile. Staring at Natasha as if she was looking into the depths of her soul. 

“On Wednesdays we wear pink,” Wanda added proudly. 

Natasha didn’t know what to say, so she stood up again, took her lunch tray and walked over to Clint and Maria. 

“What was that all about?” Maria asked. She still seemed perplexed that Natasha was just sitting and talking to the Plastics and they even seemed friendly. 

“Can we talk about this later, I just want to eat my lunch now,” Natasha brushed her off. She had no idea how to deliver Maria this news. 

* * *

Out of all possible reactions Maria could have in Natasha’s mind, none of them was close to her actual one. After lunch, they’d gone to the girl’s restroom so Natasha could tell Maria and Clint about her encounter with the Plastics. 

“You have to do it, alright! And then you have to tell me all the horrible things Sharon tells you,” she said in between laughter. 

“Sharon seems… Sweet,” Natasha responded. She didn’t understand why Maria kept saying all these horrible things about Sharon. She helped fend off Tony in the cafeteria. 

“Sharon Carter is not sweet. She's a scum-sucking-road-whore. She ruined my life!” Maria yelled. 

“She’s fabulous, but she’s evil,” Clint added when he walked out of the bathroom stall. 

“Why do you hate her?” Natasha asked. 

“What do you mean?” Maria responded. 

“Sharon, you seem to really hate her.”

“Yes, what’s your question?”

“My question is: Why?” 

“Sharon started this rumour that Ma-” 

“Clint! Shall we not?” Maria intervened. “Look, this isn’t about hating her, alright. I just think it will be a fun little experiment if you were to hang out with them and then tell us everything that they say. You’ll be like undercover.” 

“What would we even talk about?” Natasha asked, genuinely confused. 

“Hair products,” Maria offered. 

“Bearded Chris Evans,” Clint added. 

“Wait, is that a band?” Natasha asked bewildered. 

“Could you just do it, please?” Maria was being unfair making puppy eyes at her. 

“Okay, fine. Do you have anything pink?” 

“No!” Maria said.

“Yes!” Clint responded at the same time. 

_ And that is how Natasha would end up wearing an oversized pink shirt on her third day of school.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading it! 
> 
> See you in 5 days.
> 
> Next up: Natasha sees a familiar face in maths class, she goes shopping with the Plastics and thinks about joining the Mathletes.


	4. Get in loser, we're going shopping!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha meets Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson and Peggy Carter. She goes shopping with the Plastics and starts questioning her love for mathematics.

By sixth period, Natasha was happy to get to math class. She is good at maths. She understands maths. She loves it so much because it is the same in every country. That has to count for something, right? Nothing in math class could mess her up. Absolutely nothing. Although… 

“Hey, do you have a pencil I could borrow?” 

Green eyes met blue ones. Familiar blue ones. Right in front of Natasha was  _ Steve _ , the guy she was crushing on at the home decor shop two weeks ago. Natasha had only had one crush before in her life when she was five. His name was T’Challa and he was a Wakandan prince. Even if he had liked her back, it was a relationship that was doomed to fail. They remained friends after she got over her initial heartbreak and they were friends up until this day. T’Challa had even emailed her last week to ask about her move to the States. 

The childhood crush she had on T’Challa was merely some puppy love, nothing serious. The crush she had on Steve, hit her like a Norse God’s hammer. 

“Oh, I know you, you’re the girl from the store. Natasha, right?” Steve asked. 

“Yeah, that’s me,” Natasha smiled and handed him a spare pencil. 

“Thanks,” Steve said and turned back around before giving her another cheeky smile. 

Natasha was smitten. Steve looked just as handsome as she'd remembered. After seeing him at the store, she hadn't expected to see him again. She just assumed he just graduated and started working there, but she was wrong. Steve was a junior so that meant he was only a year older than her and he was sitting in het 11th grade calculus class for a whole year. Natasha finally had the feeling school was working out for her just fine. She had made some friends today, she was sitting behind Steve in maths class and _He_ _ is so cute.  _

No two seconds had passed after having those thoughts and the whole classroom turned to Natasha, even Steve had turned back around. Had she just blurted that out loud for everyone to hear? She decided to look at the blackboard, ignore the stares and focus on the lesson when she realised Mrs. May had actually asked her a question. She quickly looked at the equation and continued solving it: “a sub n equals n plus one over four.” 

“That’s right! Good, very good. Alright, let’s talk about your homework now,” Mrs. May continued. 

Math class was over before she knew it and so was the second day of school for that matter. Steve had left the minute the bell rang. Completely forgetting about handing back her pencil, she’d ask him for it tomorrow when they had maths class again. 

When she arrived back home, a similar scene as the day before was unfolding before her. Nick was happily chatting away with Yelena while she had a book in her lap which seemed to be some sort of homework. Natasha walked up to them with a smile. 

“Hey, how was your second day?” Nick asked curiously. 

“Fine,” Natasha said with a small smile. 

“Were people nice?”

“No,”

“Did you make any friends?” Yelena asked curiously. 

“Yeah,” Natasha finished off and decided to go inside and start on her own homework upstairs in her room. 

* * *

The next day Natasha was wearing an old pair of jeans, Clint’s oversized pink shirt and comfortable black sneakers. Her hair was up in a ponytail like most days. At lunch time, she was sitting with the Plastics as promised, but being with the Plastics was like leaving the actual world and entering 'girl world'. Not that Natasha had much knowledge of the ‘actual world’, but it sure as hell made her even more unqualified to be part of ‘girl world’. On top of that ‘girl world’ had a lot of rules. 

“You can’t wear a tank top two days in a row,” Pepper was explaining to her, “and you can only wear your hair in a ponytail once a week. So I guess you picked today,” she said a bit judgmental. “Oh and we only wear jeans or trackpants on Fridays. Now if you break any of these rules, you can’t sit with us at lunch. I mean, not just you, any of us,” she added. 

“If I was wearing jeans today, I would be sitting over there with the art freaks,” she said while looking in the direction of Clint and Maria’s table. Maria was decorating Clint’s face with what looked to be slices of ham. In all honesty, it was a hilarious sight, but Natasha couldn’t show the Plastics she was enjoying it. “Oh and we always vote before we ask someone to eat lunch with us because you have to be considerate of the rest of the group,” Pepper added. “Well, I mean, you wouldn’t buy a skirt without asking your friends first if it looks good on you.” 

“I wouldn’t?” Natasha asked confusedly.

“Right. Oh, and it’s the same with guys. You may think you like someone, but you could be wrong,” Pepper said. 

Pepper’s 101 ‘girl world’ class got interrupted by Sharon all of a sudden. 

“A hundred and twenty calories and 48 calories fat, what percent is that?” she asked Pepper. 

“48 into 120,” Pepper started thinking out loud. Natasha was doing the maths in her head at the same time. This was easy for her. 

“I’m only eating foods with less than 30 percent or calories from fat,” Sharon explained. Pepper was still thinking, or pretending to be thinking. Natasha had the feeling Pepper was smarter than she let on. 

“It’s 40 percent,” Natasha blurted out. Pepper and Sharon looked up at her expectantly. 

“48 over 120 equals x over 100 and then you cross multiply and get the value of x,” she explained like it was the most normal thing in the world. Sharon had no idea what she was talking about. 

“Whatever, I’m getting cheese fries,” she replied. She stood up from their table and walked to the cafeteria counter to get her lunch tray filled. 

Wanda didn’t seem to have a lot to say, so Pepper tried making small talk with Natasha. 

“So, have you seen any guys that you think are cute yet?” she asked curiously. Wanda’s interest seemed to have peaked at that question and she turned to Natasha. Both girls focused their attention on the redhead, engrossed in whatever her answer would be. If these girls were this interested, there was no need to keep it all to herself. So Natasha started to talk about her developing crush for Steve. 

“Well, there’s this guy in my calculus class and we already met once over the summer,” she started. “Who is it?” Wanda chimed in. “He’s a junior?” Pepper asked almost at the same time. 

“His name is Steve Rogers,” Natasha said slightly blushing. 

The responses she got from both girls were very unexpected. Both of them started shaking their heads and blurting out multiple no’s. “You can’t like Steve Rogers,” Pepper explained eventually, “That’s Sharon’s ex-boyfriend.” 

“They went out for a year,” Wanda added. 

“Yeah, and then she was devastated when he broke up with her last summer,” Pepper spoke up. 

“I thought she dumped him for Brock Rumlow?” Wanda asked confusedly. 

“Irregardless, ex-boyfriends are just off-limits to friends. That’s just like the rules of feminism,” Pepper tried changing the topic. “Don’t worry,” she reassured Natasha, “I’ll never tell Sharon what you said. It will be our little secret,” she whispered. Wanda smiled and nodded in agreement. After lunch Natasha had math class again to end the day. That meant she would see Steve Rogers again. 

Natasha hoped she could end her “friendship” with Sharon soon after Maria and Clint had gotten all the intel they wanted on her. That way Steve Rogers would no longer be off limits. And even though she wasn’t allowed to like him for the moment. She was still allowed to look at him and think about him and... talk to him. So when math class ended she was about to ask him back for her pencil after class, but before she could reach his shoulder for a small tap, she was stopped by another guy. A handsome, yet little nerdy guy stood in front of her, he sat next to her and was a mathematical genius from the few times she'd interacted with him during class. 

“You’re the Russian Africa girl, right?” he asked. Natasha nodded in response. 

“I noticed you're pretty good at this. I’m Sam Wilson, captain of the Northshore Mathlethes. We participate in maths challenges against other high schools around the state and we can get twice as much funding if we’ve got a girl. So, you should think about joining.” Mrs. May overheard Sam and agreed. “You’d be perfect for it,” she said. 

“Yeah, definitely,” Natasha answered. 

“Great,” Sam said, “let me give you my card. You can think it over and let me know. Don’t wait too long though because we’d like to get jackets.” And with that he walked off. Natasha looked down at his card and it read _Math Entusiast / Badass M.C. / Creator of Redwing_ underneath it was a phone number and an image of what looked like a red falcon. Natasha didn't know what was more confusing a student having a pointless business card or the info on said business card. Anyways, Sam seemed like a nice guy so she was definitely going to ask him what Redwing was. 

* * *

Wednesdays in high school meant an early release. Many students participated in after school activities like band practice, cheerleading, football or basketball. Natasha actually considered joining the mathletes, but they didn’t really get together on Wednesday afternoons to sharpen their maths skills. She decided to just go home, hopefully spend some time with Nick and her little sister, go to the beach one last time before she got stuck at home with school work and cold East Coast weather. Or at least those were her original plans. 

While walking over to the nearest bus stop, she passed the football field. Natasha was someone that loved taking in her surroundings, so it was no surprise that she stopped and stared for a while to look at the football practice happening in front of her. One of the practising teams had just scored a goal and the guys were celebrating by jumping on the scorer of said goal. The coach whistled to indicate they should start back up and the other players, one of them she recognised as Brock Rumlow, started to dissipate back around the field, away from their star player. The star player that she couldn’t help but recognise either. Tall, blond and broad shoulders with a smile that could make the ice on the North Pole melt twice as fast. Steve’s smile was contagious so Natasha couldn’t help but mimic his expression when she saw how happy he looked. When Steve looked up, his eyes met with Natasha’s across the field and his smile grew even wider if that were possible. He waved at Natasha and it looked like he even wanted to walk up to her, but since he was in the middle of a practice game, he couldn’t just abandon the football field and leave. She still saw him hesitating. 

It was kinda cute though, how he seemed to be considering leaving while he was about to bring his team to a victory and become the hero of the day. The decision was already made for him when a silver Lexus stopped next to the curb behind Natasha and honked. 

“Get in loser, we’re going shopping!” Sharon shouted from the car. She had a mischievous look in her eyes as if she enjoyed breaking up a private moment. 

Natasha looked back over to where Steve was smiling and waving at her mere seconds ago, but he had taken his position as a striker back on the field. An afternoon of shopping with the Plastics it is then. 

* * *

Sharon is like the Barbie doll Natasha never had. She had never seen anybody so glamorous. Whenever Sharon walked into a room, everybody would notice. People stopped and stared and that is exactly what happened at the shopping mall. Natasha walked in with Sharon, Wanda and Pepper by her side and it felt like they took up all the space. Everyone made room for them, looked after them. They were the centre of attention and while Natasha was used to being stared at because in Africa she had always been a sort of outsider, this was a completely different kind of attention. 

“So how do you like Northshore?” Sharon asked her. 

“It’s good,” Natasha responded, “I'm thinking about joining the Mathletes.” 

“No no,” Sharon said quickly, “you cannot do that. That’s social suicide," she said while rolling her eyes. "Damn, you are so lucky you have us to guide you.” 

Was maths not as fun for others as it was for Natasha? Did others not see the beauty of it? Was this a 'girl world' kind of thing or something from the actual world? While these thoughts raced through Natasha’s mind her eyes fell upon a familiar face. Maria was standing behind the counter in one of the stores at the shopping mall, giving Natasha a big thumbs up for hanging out with the Plastics on their free afternoon. She hoped it was worth it. First she had to give up on Steve Rogers, now they are taking away mathematics. What else would she have to give up to fit in? She waved back at Maria with a half smile. She hoped this would all be over soon and she could finally be herself. Whoever that was in this new world. 

They were almost at the middle of the mall, close to the store Wanda had said she saw an amazing red skirt she wanted to buy, but had to consult with her friends first. That is when another familiar face turned up. Tony Stark was currently sitting at the mall's fountain. He was sipping a milkshake and with him was a brown-haired girl. They seemed pretty cosy together. Something that didn’t sit right with the Plastics. 

“Oh my God, there’s Tony,” Pepper blurted out. 

“Where?” Wanda asked, “Oh, there he is,” she immediately added when she caught him with her eyes. 

“Ugh, and he’s with Maya Hansen,” Pepper soon noticed who the girl’s identity was. 

“I heard they are going out,” Wanda said. 

“Wait, Tony’s not going out with Maya. He cannot blow you off like that,” Sharon said with a perplexed expression on her face. 

“He’s such a little skeez. Give me your phone,” she ordered Pepper. 

“You’re not going to give him a call, right?” Pepper asked worried. 

“Do you think I’m an idiot?” Sharon asked rhetorically. Pepper muttered a silent ‘no’ under her breath anyways. She seemed to not want to step on Sharon’s toes at any moment. Natasha could definitely feel some tension between them, but didn’t put much thought in it. 

“Wedell on South Boulevard,” Sharon stated into the phone. 

“Caller ID,” Pepper interrupted. 

“Not when you connect from information,” Sharon said while covering the phone so the person on the other line couldn’t hear. 

A hello could be heard from the other side of the line. 

“Hello, Can I please speak to Maya Hansen?” Sharon said over the phone, sounding like she was making a professional phone call. 

“She’s not home yet, who’s calling?” a woman on the other end of the line asked. What Natasha didn’t know was that the woman in question was Maya’s mother and Sharon was about to stir up some big drama within the Hansen household. 

This is Frida from Planned Parenthood. I have Maya’s test results. If you could have her give me a call as soon as she can. It’s urgent. Thank you,” Sharon finished. 

“She won’t be going out with anyone for at least a couple of months,” she said with a devilish grin on her face. Wanda and Pepper started to laugh. “Okay, that was so fetch!” Pepper shrieked. 

Natasha didn’t completely understand the Plastics’ way of fun or whatever fetch was, but she wasn’t particularly happy at whatever just occured. The girls didn’t seem to notice she wasn’t having as much fun with this as they did and they continued onto their path to Wanda’s store. Before rejoining them, Natasha glanced over her shoulder one more time and saw Maya Hansen on the phone. It seemed to be a very intense phone call and Natasha had a feeling it was the result of what Sharon had just done. Is this what Maria meant when she said Sharon was evil? On the other hand, what Tony did wasn’t right either. Is this how friendships worked? And why was Sharon not taking it out on Tony? If anyone was to blame, it was him. Were girls in 'girl world' mean girls? 

Later that afternoon, the Plastics had decided to go to Sharon’s house and hang out over there for a while. House was an understatement. The long driveway was an obvious harbinger of the wealthy estate that it led up to. The building that came in view was enormous. A big neoclassical solid stone mansion. Natasha was taking in the sight. Four colossal columns took up the front of the building, giving you the feeling you were about to enter an ancient Greek temple. She was at a loss of words. 

“Wow, Sharon, your house is really nice,” she uttered. 

“I know right,” Sharon countered with a smug smile. 

The interior was even more impressive. The front door opened to a wide hall with a double marble staircase. Not just the stairs were set in marble, it was as if the whole room was decorated with Carrara marble. The same materials were used in the living room where Sharon’s mother was awaiting them. 

“Hey hey hey, how are my best girlfriends?” A stunning brunette woman in her early forties walked from behind the marble kitchen island and spoke to the girls with a posh British accent. 

“Hey Mrs. Carter,” Pepper greeted her, “this is Natasha.”

“Hello sweetheart,” Mrs. Carter said. 

“Welcome to our home,” she opened her arms to welcome Natasha with a hug, “you can call me Peggy.” Natasha accepted the hug shyly, not being used to this kind of affection from complete strangers. 

“I want you to know that if you need anything, don’t be shy, okay? We have staff for everything and there are no rules in this house. I’m not like a regular mom, I’m a cool mom.” As if Natasha even knew the difference. 

“Right, Sharon?” Mrs. Carter asked her daughter for confirmation. Sharon didn’t seem to be in the mood for this kind of conversation and blatantly told her to keep her mouth shut and took off. The girls all followed her up the stairs and entered, what Natasha assumed to be Sharon’s bedroom. 

The room was big, too big. In the middle there was a four-poster king size bed with cherry red curtains around it. There was a large walk-in closet on the left side of the room and the right side of the room had windows for walls with double glass doors that led onto an equally impressive balcony. 

“This is your room?” Natasha asked for confirmation, looking around and taking it all in. 

“It was my parents’ room, but I made them trade me,” Sharon explained matter-of-factly. 

The room looked nothing like Natasha's. While she was proud and happy that she finally had her own space in their home, Sharon has a room for her own that must be four times as big. Natasha was happy with her own room. She had chosen her own furniture and painted the walls, everything fit together nicely and she was really proud of the end result, but she couldn't deny that Sharon's room had nothing on hers. 

Besides a bed, a desk, a few sitting chairs and a walk-in closet there wasn't much in the room. It was a very big somewhat empty space. It looked nice and all, but it didn't feel like a home. At least not to Natasha. Sharon and her friends seemed to feel very much at home. On the wall across from the walk-in closet there was a huge mirror and in ‘girl world’ it was some sort of habit to stand in front of a big mirror and blurt out all the things you didn’t like about yourself. The Plastics had almost immediatly gone over to said mirror. It seemed like a normality to feel bad about yourself and how you looked, even if you were nearing perfection on the outside. All three of them took turns vocalising whatever it was that made them feel insecure. 

“My hips are so wide,” Wanda started to complain. 

“Please, Wanda, I hate my calves,” Pepper countered. 

“At least you girls can wear halters, I got man-shoulders,” Sharon stated. 

Natasha used to think there was just fat and skinny, but she soon realised that in ‘girl world’, or maybe also in the actual world, a lot could be wrong with your body. The girls continued filing their complaints against mother nature. 

“My hairline is so weird.”

“My pores are huge.”

“My nail beds suck.” 

And those were only a few of the other things the Plastics uttered. Until they realised Natasha remained silent. They all turned to her expectantly. 

“I have really bad breath in the morning,” she quickly blurted out. Sharon looked disgusted. That was the moment Peggy Carter decided to walk in with a platter of drinks. 

“Hello ladies, look what Jarvis made for you. Happy hour is from four to six. Healthy smoothies to keep you beautiful,” Peggy exclaimed excitedly. Being a cool mom apparently meant wanting in on the latest news so she made herself comfortable in one of the seats, but Sharon brushed her off again by telling her to fix her hair. Natasha was surprised at how rude she could be to one of her parents. Her mother had given her everything and yet Sharon barely acknowledged her. She didn’t even thank her for bringing them drinks. Coming from a place where she knew what it was like to not have a mother or a father, she had always been grateful for Nick adopting her and her sister, Yelena. 

Technically Yelena was her half sister. Natasha’s father had died a few months before she was born and her mother had found love again a year and a half after. Yelena wasn’t particularly planned since her mother had only been with Yelena’s father for a few months, but they knew they wanted to expand their little make-shift family anyways so that is what they did. What they didn’t plan for was to get into a deadly car crash the night they were celebrating their three-year anniversary when both girls were two and four. It was a snowy night and they had gone to dinner and ballet afterwards. Natasha had learned about her mother’s love for ballet and after seeing a performance on television, she had fully adapted her mother’s passion. After the live performance her mother and stepfather had gone to, they drove home on the icy roads. The report read that their car was moving at a slow pace and they were clearly being cautious of the situation, but not all people were being careful that night. A drunk driver named Ivan had driven them off the road. He had come out of the accident unkempt, but for Natasha and Yelena’s parents it was too late. The day after they were brought into the orphanage to then be adopted by a stranger called Nicholas Fury six years later and the rest was history.

After Peggy was gone again, Wanda brought out a fluffy pink book she'd picked up from one of the shelves. 

“Check it out Natasha, it’s our burn book,” Pepper explained, “we cut out girl’s pictures from the yearbook and then we wrote comments.” Pepper even seemed proud of it and took the book out of Wanda’s hands and started reading out loud. 

“Gamora is a grotsky little b*tch… Jessica Jones is a fat virgin…,” 

“Still half true,” Sharon commented, Wanda and Pepper started giggling at that. 

“Darcy Lewis made out with a hot dog,” Wanda continued. Then a more interesting page turned up.  _ Maria Hill, Dyke _ . It said with a picture of Maria and Clint. Natasha was a bit shocked to see Maria in the book, but then again, they said they took all yearbook pictures. 

“Who is that?” Wanda asked, pointing at Clint. “I think it’s that Barton kid,” Pepper said. Natasha thought back about how Maria described him as almost too gay to function. 

Sharon laughed and said: “That’s funny, put that in there.” 

Oh no, had she just said that out loud? It probably wasn’t something meant for others to hear. Natasha hoped that with all these mean comments, the book would never see the light of day. 

* * *

“And they have this book, this burn book where they write mean things about all the girls in our school,” Natasha explained to Maria. She had decided to go back to the mall after leaving Sharon’s house before she was to get back home. She'd hoped to see Maria still at work so she had someone 'normal' to talk to before going home. On top of that the way Sharon had treated her mother didn’t sit right with her and she wanted to show Nick that she appreciated him by buying him a little gift. She'd been pretty distant the past two days and he didn't deserve that. The beauty product store Maria worked at might not be ideal, but a nice aftershave was always nice. 

“What’s in it about me?” Maria asked curiously. 

“You’re not in it,” Natasha lied. 

“Those b*tches,” Maria murmured under her breath. 

“Natalia, you have to steal that book,” she declared. 

“No way!”

“Oh, come on! We could publish it and the whole world would see what an ax-wound she really is!” 

“I don’t steal.”

“Natalia, there are two kinds of evil people. People who do evil stuff and people who see evil stuff being done and don’t try to stop it,” Maria explained. Clint, who was in the store with them, but was looking for something to cover his pores overheard and joined in on the conversation. “Does that mean I am morally obligated to burn that lady’s outfit?” he asked looking over at a woman that just entered wearing a vest with a weird colour combination and stripes. 

“Oh that’s Mrs. May,” he noticed when really investigating her. 

“Ugh, I love seeing teachers outside of school. It’s like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs,” she whispered ironically. That was the moment Mrs. May noticed the three students.    
“Hey, guys. What’s up? Maria, I didn’t know you worked here,” she greeted them. “Yeah, moderately priced soaps are my calling,” Maria deadpanned. 

“Natasha, I do hope you'll join the Mathletes because we start in a couple of weeks and I would love to have a girl on the team just so the team could, you know... meet a girl,” she said jokingly, but deep down all three students noticed she meant it. 

“I think I am going to do it,” Natasha answered excitedly. 

“Great!” 

“You can’t join the Mathletes, that’s social suicide!” Clint blurted out. 

“Thanks, Clint,” Mrs. May said, he shrugged in response. So it wasn’t ‘girl world’ thing then that you wouldn’t be socially accepted if you liked maths. Natasha had some stuff to reconsider tonight. 

“So,” Mrs. May spoke up, “this has been sufficiently awkward. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” That was her cue to leave and for Maria to change the subject back to the Plastics. 

“When are you seeing Sharon again?” she asked. 

“I can’t spy on her anymore, it’s weird,”  _ And it means I can’t talk to Steve Rogers and I would really like to get to know him better. _

“Come, on! She is never going to find out, it will be like our little secret." Those words sounded all too familiar for Natasha. 

* * *

At 8.00 pm sharp the phone in Natasha’s house rang. Who would be calling them at this hour? 

“Hello?” she asked. 

“I know your secret.” 

It was Sharon. How could she know about her and Maria? Was she spying on Natasha herself? Natasha decided to play it cool. 

“Secret? What secret? What are you talking about?” she asked as if she had no idea what Sharon was talking about. 

“Pepper told me that you like Steve Rogers. I mean… I don’t care, do whatever you want, but let me just tell you something about Steve. All he cares about is school and his mom… And his friends,” Sharon ranted. 

“Is that bad?” 

“But if you like him, whatever. I mean… I could talk to him for you if you want?” Sharon offered. Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all. Maybe being friends with Sharon didn’t mean she couldn’t get to know Steve. 

“Really? You would do that? Nothing embarrassing, though. Right?” 

“Oh no, trust me. I know exactly how to play him,” Sharon reassured her. And with Sharon’s blessing, Natasha decided she’d try to talk to Steve more and more. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it. 
> 
> Feedback is always welcome. 
> 
> Next up: Steve's backstory, Natasha gets invited to a Halloween party and Maria and Clint get the scare of a lifetime.


	5. On October 3rd, he asked me what day it was.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter: Steve's backstory, Natasha gets invited to a Halloween party, Maria comes up with a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my favourite chapter so far, so let me know what you think. I hope you like it just as much as I do.

Steve got up at 7:00 am on Tuesday morning and he couldn’t believe a month of school had already passed. It is crazy how time flies and he was able to pick up the routine of school, weekly football and swimming practice as if there never had been anything else on his mind. In reality, he never had a break from being busy since the hustle that the average school week brought along, wasn’t so different from his summer job at his mother’s store. He’d liked working at RD&M over the summer, but he knew that it was not something he’d want to do for the rest of his life. Steve was more of a creative person. He loved drawing and painting. Something that didn’t work well with the jock type of guy he had to portray at school, but he didn’t feel like he had many choices. If he wanted to become a professional illustrator, he needed a college degree. Unlike him, his mother loved her sales job and had put a lot of work into turning RD&M into a lucrative business. She was even able to open two other establishments in the area. Her business was booming, but Steve didn’t want to put a burden on her by going to college so he tried to earn himself a scholarship and that meant playing the cool kid that participated in many sports. 

If a scholarship didn’t work out in the end, he had made a deal with his mother that he would pay her back in the form of working at her store during the weekends. His summer job was a good way of getting the feeling of what that would be like and he actually liked being busy during the summer, especially after his breakup with Sharon at the end of the school year. Working helped him get his mind off of things and it’s not like his mother didn’t pay him for his working hours. Those weren’t the only advantages. He got into contact with many people over the summer and working at RD&M was good for his social life. Steve might be a cool guy at school, but he didn’t have many close friends. Most of the people that he hung out with at school were jocks that only thought about picking up girls like Brock and Tony and Thor… Work gave him an excuse to be occupied when they wanted to go to the beach to flirt with girls. And to be fair, he didn’t need to go to the beach to meet cute girls. He still hadn’t forgotten about the beautiful redhead that had asked him for help because she was looking for a particular canvas. Natasha was her name and he had loved it instantly. It fit her. He had never seen her around town before, so he was genuinely surprised when he saw her again in his math class the second day of school. That was the only class they shared though, since he learned she was a sophomore and he was a junior. It meant their paths barely crossed at school so Steve had taken it upon himself to try to make some small talk with her whenever he saw a window of opportunity. He felt drawn to her and really wanted to get to know her, but Steve was no womanizer so he had to stick with small talk while it lasted. 

Tuesdays meant math class during eight period, so Steve was in a good mood. Sarah Rogers didn’t miss her son’s eagerness to start the day. 

“What brings you in a good mood like this?”

“Oh, nothing in particular. I guess I just had a good night’s rest.”

“You’re a terrible liar, Steve. You inheritated that from me at least, if you’d have your father’s lying skills. I wouldn’t know what to do with you.”

“Mom, let’s not mention him. You wouldn’t want to ruin my good mood, would you?” Steve quipped with a smile. 

He might have smiled while he made that remark, but he meant every word of it. Steve didn’t like talking about his father since the man had abandoned him and his mother at a time when they needed him the most. 

Sarah Rogers had been a hard-working nurse before she was the head of RD&M. That is, until her long shifts and irregular schedules started to get the better of her, or that is what she thought at least. After some medical examinations, Sarah was diagnosed with stage two uterine cancer. Steve was only 8 at that time so he only knew his mother was very ill and when he saw her suffering from her treatments he knew there was a chance he could lose her. It was during this treatment that Joseph Rogers, Steve’s father, had started an affair with one of his co-workers. When the news came out he tried to defend himself by explaining how Sarah had become unattractive to him because of her treatment and how she was always too tired to do things together. Sarah, being the good woman that she was, gave him another chance. If not, things weren’t looking good for her and Steve and she couldn’t do that to her little boy. She wouldn’t be getting back to work as a nurse anytime soon, if ever. The surgery had left its toll on her body and heavy lifting would always be painful. She wouldn’t be able to offer Steve the things that he deserved and she couldn’t do that. Even if it meant getting back with a man that had hurt her and her family very deeply. Sarah soon spiralled into a depression with her not being able to work and living with the thought that she might never be able to fend for herself or Steve without the help of a man. Therapy helped her back on her feet and made her realise she had other things she was passionate about. So three years later, when Steve had just turned eleven years old, she had started her own home decor business. Having a starting business meant working long hours at the start. She didn’t have enough cash flow yet to hire someone to work for her. Joseph had used this opportunity to start up another affair and when Sarah found out again a few months later she was devastated, but also relieved. Because this time, she could file for divorce and still financially support her and Steve. Up until this day Steve was mad at his father for abandoning his mother when she was fighting her cancer. He hated how much he resembled him on the outside, but that meant he worked extra hard to not be like him on the inside. So Steve was a good kid. Or at least he tried to be and that’s what counts. 

* * * 

Having lunch with the Plastics for a week had turned into a month and Natasha had grown into a full member of the group. On Wednesdays she wore pink, her hair was down four days a week and Fridays were for track pants (not that she ever really wore those). She still hung out with Maria and Clint in secret to report back on the Plastics, with them she could be herself. Unlike with Sharon and her friends. She had to pretend she hated maths and she told them made-up stories that showed she was just as disrespectful towards her parents as they were. She said parents, because their conversations never really went beyond high school gossip so there was no need to inform them of her past. Clint and Maria had heard her story and had even met Nick and Yelena when they had come over for their English class project. Since Natasha and Yelena didn’t really look like Nick in any way, she had to explain how she became his daughter. They listened to her and were very supportive. It was clear who her real friends were, but being with the Plastics made her feel confident and getting so much positive feedback on the way she looked was addictive. 

After a month of school she’d talked to Steve from time to time in math class, but it never went beyond small talk. Today, on October 3rd he asked her what day it was. Every time he’d turn around in class to ask her something, it’d be one of the highlights of her day. Which was odd because she barely even knew him. He just radiated positive energy and like a magnetic pull, Natasha was attracted to that positivity. Two weeks later, while it was pouring outside, they spoke again. He mentioned how bad the weather was and Natasha nodded along. 

Small talk wasn’t going to get her anywhere with Steve though, so she wanted to have a reason to talk to him outside of class. Maybe even outside of school. Today was her chance. It was the last day before the autumn holiday and today Mrs. May had dimmed the lights to use the projector. It was the perfect moment to try to talk to him. Natasha lightly tapped his shoulder and asked him to help her out. She pretended to be stuck at an exercise, while in reality she knew exactly what she had to do to solve it. 

“Hey, I’m totally lost, can you help me,” she whispered. 

He looked a bit taken aback, because he’d always thought she was way better at maths than him all this time. He was flattered even that she’d asked him and not Sam Wilson, maths genius and captain of the Mathletes, who was sitting right beside her. Steve thought for a while, but then tried to help her. He wasn’t great at maths, but he couldn’t show her that. 

“It’s a factorial,” he responded, “so you multiply each one by ‘n’,” Steve stated. 

Natasha knew he was wrong, but she went with it and asked him another question to ‘help’ her on her way. 

“Is that the summation?” Steve looked a bit flustered at her question. He had no idea what she was talking about. He was no mathematical wonder and sitting in front of Natasha and her asking him questions wasn’t exactly helping him. 

“Yeah, they’re the same thing.”

Wrong, Natasha thought. He was so wrong again, but she couldn’t really tell him that or he’d know she was asking him just for the sake of asking. 

“Thanks, I get it now,” she answered with a smile. That was when the bell rang and the lights turned back on. Everybody started packing their bags and so did Natasha. She had just had her shot at talking to him, but him becoming her tutor was never going to be an option. Oh well, after the holiday, she could show him how good she was and maybe he’d need her to help _him_ out. Steve however stayed in his seat for a few seconds, clearly having something on his mind when he turned back around to Natasha. 

“We’re having a Halloween-party at my friend Thor’s tonight. Do you want to come?” he asked, giving her his best puppy eyes. 

“Yeah, sure,” Natasha responded a little overwhelmed. She had not seen this coming. Steve turned back around and scribbled something on a piece of paper, still using the pencil he had ‘borrowed’ from her the second day of school. 

“Here,” she handed her the note, “this is where it is. It’s a costume party, people get really into it,” he added, a flicker of excitement visible in his eyes. 

“Okay,” she nodded. 

“Oh and the invitation is for one person only so… Don’t bring some other guy with you.” Steve had a slight blush on his cheeks when he added that, but Natasha was too lost in his eyes to notice. 

“Grool,” she blurted out. 

“I- I meant to say cool and then I started to say great,” she explained her weird outburst. She couldn’t screw this up now. He had just invited her to a party. Steve on the other hand thought it was cute and he was somehow relieved she seemed just as flustered as him. 

“Right, well… Grool. I’ll see you tonight,” he said and turned back around to finally stash his books in his bag. Natasha was planning on walking out with Steve, but she was stopped by none other than Sam Wilson, again. He kept coming in between her and Steve. 

“Hey, Russian Africa girl, are you staying for the Mathletes meeting?” he asked. Natasha had completely forgotten that was today, she answered with a quick response without really thinking. “Yeah, I’ll be right back.” 

Okay, that was a lie, but she had to go home and work on her costume. She was sure Yelena would be very excited to help her. She already had a theme ready in mind. She wanted to go as a black widow in human form, her and Yelena had limited resources so she looked more like a zombie bride. At least she looked scary and that was what was important. Or at least that was important in the regular world. Natasha knew Halloween as the day that children dressed up in scary costumes and went around the neighbourhood from door to door to pick up candy. In ‘girl world’, however, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it. The hardcore girls would wear just lingerie and some form of animal ears. None of the Plastics had informed her of this rule so when she arrived at the party at Thor’s house, she didn’t expect to see Wanda and Pepper in whatever costume they were wearing. If that could even be referred to as a costume. 

While Natasha was wearing a long black wig, a white gown that could pass as a wedding dress and light foundation to make her skin look deadly white, her new friends wore… well, not so much. Pepper had opted for a black latex catsuit, while Wanda was wearing what seemed to be a nightgown and mouse ears. Sharon was nowhere to be found yet, but given she was often the centre of attention, she would probably arrive later and make a big entrance. Natasha walked up to the girls and she could see they almost didn’t recognise her. Wanda was visibly shaken when Natasha stopped in front of them and greeted them. 

“Why are you dressed so scary?” Wanda asked after spilling half of her drink due to the shock of seeing her friend. 

“It’s Halloween,” Natasha shrugged. 

“Have you seen Tony?” Pepper tried being the focus of attention. Someone should start telling her that maybe Tony and her weren’t a great match if he never gave her the affection she wanted from him. Apparently the topic of the night was going to be boys. 

“You know who’s looking fine tonight? Pietro Maximoff,” Wanda stated, her eyes wandering off to the person in question. 

“Okay, you did  _ not  _ just say that,” Pepper countered.

“What? He’s a good kisser.” 

“He’s your cousin.” 

“Yeah, but he’s my first cousin.” 

“Right.”

“So you have your cousins and then you have your first cousins and then you have your second cousins,” Wanda was explaining. 

“No, honey,” Pepper tried talking her out of it. 

“That’s not right, is it?” Wanda wondered out loud. 

“That is so not right.” 

Natasha was not sure if she could put up with this kind of conversation for the rest of the night, but luckily that was the moment Steve had noticed her and walked up to her. 

“Hey, you made it,” he said excitedly, going in for a sideways hug. When they parted he started checking her out from head to toe to determine what her costume was. “And you are… A zombie bride?” 

“Almost. A human black widow to be exact,” Natasha answered. 

“I love it. Can I get you something to drink?” Steve asked her, always being the gentleman. 

“Sure.”

“I’ll be right back,” he said before he started walking away to what Natasha assumed was the kitchen. The party was getting crowded and it was all becoming a lot to take in. This was her first high school house party and she had a feeling she’d need some more of these to grow accustomed. 

As Steve walked away, she had a moment to check him out too. She noticed he hadn’t put much thought in his own costume, like most people at the party. He didn’t look scary at all, but he did look good. He was wearing an American football outfit in red, white and blue. Very patriotic, she thought. 

A minute or so after he disappeared into the crowd of people, he appeared again with two drinks in his hands. He was on his waay back to her when Natasha saw a familiar face stopping him from getting to his destination. It was Sharon. She started talking to Steve. This was it, she was putting in a good word for Natasha, just like she had promised. How could anyone hate Sharon, when she was a good friend like this? 

* * * 

Steve was on his way back with two non-alcoholic drinks from the kitchen. At least he hoped there was no alcohol in them. He was of no legal age to drink and while that didn’t stop most kids his age, he just didn’t see the need for it. He just hoped Natasha wasn’t expecting him to come back with spiked drinks, but she didn’t seem like a drinker either. He made his way through the lane of loud teenagers and like seeing light at the end of a tunnel, he met Natasha’s eyes while walking back into the living room area. Their distant, yet somehow intimate moment of eye-contact didn’t last long. All of a sudden a familiar blonde was in front of him. It was his dearly ex, Sharon Carter, wearing glittery one-piece undergarments and bunny ears. At first he wanted to brush Sharon off. She had really hurt his feelings by dumping him without an actual reason last summer and he wasn’t sure if he was fully over her yet. Seeing her was hard on him and he had done an excellent job at avoiding her at school. If he was going to have to talk to her now, he could make sure she knew he wasn’t fond of making small talk with her yet. 

“Hey,” she greeted him with a mischievous smile. 

“Did nobody tell you? You were supposed to wear a costume,” he stated shrewdly. Sharon smacked him on his arm playfully as if they were on the best of terms. 

“Shut up. I need to talk to you,” she stated, before leaning in closer. 

“Do you know that new girl, Natasha?” she asked. 

“Yeah, she’s cool. I invited her,” Steve said proudly. Sharon noticed the glint in his eyes when she asked him about Natasha and she didn’t like it. Nobody touches her men, especially not some weirdo African girl. Or was she Russian? Sharon couldn’t care less. 

“I wouldn’t get my hopes up with her, Steve,” Sharon started, “she is dating an African prince. Constantly complaining about how hard it is to have a long distance relationship.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that,” Steve said, taken aback. Since Natasha was the topic of conversation he couldn’t help but look her way. Sharon looked in the direction Steve’s eyes had wandered to. Natasha was currently talking to another friend of Sharon, Pepper. When she felt two pairs of eyes burning on her neck, she turned around and waved at him and Sharon with a friendly smile. Steve waved back, but he seemed a little less excited than before. 

“Apparently, when you date a prince, you’re practically engaged the moment the king and queen approve, so she will be back in Africa the moment she graduates high school.”

“Wow, that’s… I don’t know what to say,” Steve was at a loss of words. He was really looking forward to hanging out with Natasha after school and getting to know her better. If tonight went well, he even considered asking her out on a proper date. None of that could happen now. 

Sharon knew exactly what buttons to push to make Steve back off. She knew about his father’s affairs and how much Steve hated cheaters and cheating in general. He wouldn’t bat an eye at Natasha anymore. The first part of her plan was completed, but she had to send a signal to Natasha that she had to back off too, so she started up her conversation again. 

“You know, hearing Natasha talk about her lovely relationship with the prince kinda made me realise something,” Sharon started off and put her hand on his arm. 

“Oh yeah, what?” Steve asked. Still a bit flustered about hearing how unavailable Natasha was for him. 

“You know… That I kinda made a mistake,” Sharon said, acting as if she was confessing to something. “I should have never broken up with you Steve,” she said right before she leaned in and planted a kiss on his lips. Steve didn’t realise what was happening at first, but once his brain caught up with his lips, he pushed her away a little. 

“Sharon, you really hurt my feelings last school year. I don’t know if I can do this. I don’t even know if I want to do this.”

“Oh Steve, come on. We were great together. I should have never dumped you, being without you made me realise how much I love you,” she stated, “We can try and make the most of it. I know you still care about us.”

“I-” 

Before Steve could respond, Sharon had started kissing him again and this time he didn’t push her away. She was right, he did still care about them. He had thought about her all summer until he had met Natasha and he had no chance with her anyways. Besides, Sharon and him ran in the same circles in high school so they were bound to run into each other sooner or later. This way he could actually be comfortable around her and maybe even still befriend Natasha since she was Sharon’s friend now. It was a win win for everyone, Steve thought to himself before pulling Sharon closer to him and deepening their kiss. 

* * *

The moment Natasha saw the scene unfold in front of her world collapsed. She could feel her heart racing in her ears. She felt as if her stomach would fall out of her from behind at any time and not to forget the feeling as if there was a lump in her throat like after swallowing a big pill. She hated Sharon. She ran off as if on a fight or flight instinct. Sharon had just kissed Steve and he had let her. She wasn’t putting in a good word for her at all. Maria was right, she was evil in a human form. Natasha felt so stupid. She wanted to cry and she needed to vent. Going home wasn’t an option. Yelena was having a sleepover with some of her friends, which meant that if she got home early, Nick would want to have some company and he would see right through her. 

Wandering around outside for a while helped her calm down a little bit. She still felt horrible, but at least she knew where she was going. She recognised the neighbourhood from her first week of school when Clint had brought her back to his house to lend her his pink shirt. She also remembered Maria inviting her to watch some horror-films for Halloween night, but they had rented Harry Potter too. In case she wasn’t into horror. They were so considerate of her. Natasha had almost felt guilty for having to decline Maria’s invite, but she understood. She had even rooted for Natasha because if anything would upset Sharon Carter, it would be Steve Rogers moving on from her so soon. 

That is how Natasha found herself in front of Clint’s house, still wearing her very scary costume. She knocked on the door, but the lights were out. That was odd, she could have sworn Maria had said they would watch movies at his place. That’s when she heard the scream of a familiar voice coming from the backyard. The film must be very scary if it can make Clint scream like that, she thought to herself. She let herself in through the little gate on the side of the house and that is when she noticed flickering lights coming out of the window from the room above the garage. She decided to walk up the stairs and check if Maria and Clint were there. 

Maybe she should have taken off her wig upon entering because she gave Clint and Maria the biggest scare of their lives. Popcorn went flying through the room when they saw her in the door opening. It didn’t help that her tears had probably ruined most of her makeup along the way, but Natasha needed to talk to someone so that is what she did. 

“She took him back,” she started, “Sharon took Steve back.” 

“Oh no, Natalia,” Maria got up and immediately pulled her in for a hug. Clint came to her side too and put an arm around her shoulder. They'd completely forgotten about the suspenseful film they were watching mere seconds ago. 

“Why would she do that?” 

“Because she is a life ruiner, she ruins people’s lives.”

“When we were thirteen she made people sign this petition saying that Maria was a-”

“Clint, please!,” Maria begged him to shut up. 

“Look, she’s not going to get away with this again, okay? We are going to do something,” Maria said determinedly. 

* * * 

Half an hour later, Maria had come up with a plan. An actual plan this time. Not just aimlessly sending Natasha on an ‘undercover mission’. Sharon Carter was going to pay for her sins, sooner rather than later. 

“Sharon Carter is an evil dictator,” Maria started with her little impromptu lecture, “How do you overthrow a dictator?” she asked, sparking up Clint and Natasha’s interest. 

“You cut off her resources,” Maria explained matter-of-factly. “Sharon Carter would be nothing without her high status man candy, Steve Rogers, her technically good physique and her ignorant band of loyal followers.” Maria had found an old chalkboard in Clint’s garage and had written down those three main ‘resources’ to give her audience a quick and clear overview. 

“Natalia, if we want this to work, you will have to keep hanging around them after the break as if nothing is wrong. Can you do it?”

“I can do it,” Natasha said confidently. 

“Okay, let’s rock this b*tch,” Maria responded excitedly. She was finally getting the sweet revenge on Sharon she'd been dreaming of for years. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: The plan gets set in motion, Natasha hears what happened between Maria and Sharon and Santa brings candy canes. 
> 
> I might post two chapters at once next time. I'm not fully out on that. It depends on how much time I have to finish up. 
> 
> Thank you for sticking with me! I hope you liked it. 
> 
> Have a nice day!


	6. Your hair looks sexy pushed back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha sets the plan in motion, but things seem to be harder than expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a somewhat shorter chapter, but longer ones will be coming again in the future. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Pretending like nothing was wrong turned out to be surprisingly easy. Natasha, Maria and Clint had gotten together almost every day during their break to come up with different plans to sabotage Sharon and the Plastics altogether. They’d also practised Natasha’s acting skills for when she had to act like she wasn’t mad at Sharon or the two others for being extremely mean to her. 

On the first day of school after the break, Natasha met up with Pepper in the hallway before lunch break. Pepper had said they needed to talk and Natasha would gladly do so. Fake it till you make it was what Maria had told her. 

“So about what happened at the party…” 

“Oh, Pepper it’s okay.”

“No, it’s just. Sharon wanted me to tell you she really was trying to hook you up with Steve, but he was only interested in getting her back and that’s not  _ Sharon’s  _ fault.”

“No, I know,” Natasha waved it off with a smile. 

“So, you’re not mad at Sharon?”

“God, no,” Natasha breathed out very convincingly, like she’d practised with Clint and Maria. 

“Good, good, because Sharon wanted me to give you this…” Pepper said before wrapping her arms around Natasha awkwardly and squeezing her a little. If there was ever an award for the most awkward hug, this one would surely be nominated. 

After their little talk, Natasha and Pepper headed to the cafeteria where they saw Wanda, Sharon and to Natasha’s surprise Steve sitting at their usual table. Before they reached the table, Natasha could hear Sharon talking about wanting to lose weight. 

“It's called the South Beach Fat Flush and all you do is drink cranberry juice for 72 hours,” she said sipping some more of her red drink. 

“This isn’t even cranberry juice,” Steve started mocking her, “it’s cranberry juice cocktail, it’s all sugar.” 

“I want to lose three pounds.”

“You’re crazy. You look perfect the way that you are,” Steve sighed out. 

Sharon had heard enough of him claiming she looked just fine and was about to complain how he kept saying that and how untrue it was when she noticed Natasha and Pepper coming their way. She quickly came up with a way to torture Natasha and make it clear Steve was hers for once and for all. 

“Why don’t you never wear your hair like that, honey,” she asked Steve while going with her fingers through his hair, resulting in his hair being pushed back to the side. Natasha and Pepper had just arrived at their table so they had overheard the interaction. Natasha was about to sit down when Sharon addressed her. 

“Your hair looks so sexy when it’s pushed back,” she told Steve again while admiring the result. “Natasha, will you please tell him his hair looks sexy pushed back,” she asked the redhead. Sharon looked at Natasha with a look of victory on her face. Thinking about it, Steve never seemed to care much about his hair so before Sharon had made it stand up and a bit to the left, it was just flatly laying down on his head.

Natasha saw right through it and knew exactly why Sharon was doing this. She was dangling Steve in front of her on purpose, as if she was marking her territory. The redhead felt her blood start boiling inside of her, but she had a plan together with Maria and Clint, so she knew better. She didn’t want to disappoint them. 

“Your hair looks sexy pushed back,” she said a bit awkwardly and decided to take a seat and start eating lunch. Steve looked at her, a bit taken aback. As if he enjoyed getting a compliment about his looks from Natasha. She didn’t understand why, though. He had decided to get back with Sharon without any explanation. Not that he owed her one, but Natasha felt like he had no right to look so intensely at her when he was clearly with someone else already. 

In ‘girl world’ the fighting had to be done sneakily, so Natasha would get to the part where she could cry victory on Sharon at one point. She just needed to stick to the plan for a while so that is what she did. 

On Wednesday, when all four of them were wearing pink, Sharon noticed her diet had some unpleasant side effects. She’d started to get unclear skin and was vividly complaining about it in the girl’s bathroom. 

“Ugh, this cranberry juice is really making me break out,” she said while inspecting a spot on her chin. Natasha saw this as an opportunity for sabotage and went to Maria’s store after school. They decided to give Sharon some “great stuff” for her breakout, but instead of a facial cream, they would replace it with cracked heels cream. This should be interesting. The next day Sharon had been using the cream non-stop on her face. At lunch Steve came over to her table and kissed her cheek. He made a weird face at first so Natasha was hoping the cream would at least have its first effect, but all Steve could say was that her face smelled like peppermint and he kissed her again. 

So their first attempt at sabotage wasn’t a success. Sharon seemed to really love the cream and what Natasha hadn’t expected was for it to have a positive effect on her skin too. The blond had thanked her for it and had even asked for another batch, just in case she would have another breakout. This is not how this was supposed to go. 

Maria had written down a few more ideas on their brainstorm board, so the next week they would try one of those. When the Plastics had gym class again together on Tuesday, Maria would skip health class again like they did the first week and she would cut some holes in Sharon’s top. She’d had the amazing idea of cutting holes where her breasts would be so everyone would be able to see her bra. People would have to laugh at that. No way was Sharon getting away with something like that. 

The next day an even more unexpected thing happened. Almost every girl in school had cut two holes in their shirt and everyone’s bra was visible. Were most teen girls really that shallow? Later that day at the dinner table, Yelena had told Natasha and Nick about a new trend that a girl at Natasha’s school had started. Natasha knew exactly what she was talking about so she practically begged Yelena to not follow this trend. Luckily, she still had somewhat of an effect on her younger sister and Yelena was not wearing any clothes with holes in them the next morning. 

Natasha, Maria and Clint had tried many things over the month, but none of them had worked. They needed to win over Sharon from the inside, but the problem was that Natasha and Sharon hadn’t been very close, yet. Sharon had kept Natasha at arm’s length ever since she took Steve back and Natasha had a hard time getting through to her. She saw Clint and Maria stand in line at the candy cane give away stand that was set up this week in the hallway. This was a good moment to talk to them undetectably. They’d talked like this at school a lot. Nobody could really notice who her real friends were, so they snuck around or decided to talk to each other in a crowded place, this way nobody would really notice they were discussing Plastic sabotage, but merely think they were being friendly. 

“This is ass, you guys,” Maria started, “It’s been a month and all we’ve done is make Sharon’s face smell like a foot.” 

“I’ve been really busy with archery class,” Clint stated, trying to have an explanation for not coming up with any new creative strategies to cut off Sharon’s resources. 

“We have to crack Pepper Potts, she’s the key to Sharon’s secrets,” Maria said, “if we crack Pepper we crack the lock on Sharon’s whole dirty history.”

“Say crack again and I”ll-”

“Crack.”

“Okay, let’s meet up tonight,” Maria offered.

“I can’t, I have to go to Sharon’s tonight to practise for the talent show. We’re doing this dance to this song…”

“Jingle Bell Rock,” Maria and Clint finished at the same time. 

“Yeah, how do you guys know?” Natasha asked surprisedly. 

“Everyone in the English-speaking community knows that song.”

“They do it every year.” 

“Well, I have to learn it,” Natasha said. That is when she noticed Sharon from afar and she was heading her way. She told Clint and Maria to go quickly. Hopefully Sharon hadn’t seen who she was talking to before. 

“Hey,” Natasha greeted Sharon quickly. 

“Why were you talking to Maria Hill?” Sharon asked with a questionable look on her face. 

“I don’t know, I mean, she’s so weird,” Natasha started, trying to come up with an excuse, she thought back about the conversation she just had with Maria and Clint and something clicked, “she came up to me and started talking to me about crack.” Okay, maybe not the best option, but Maria had talked about crack in some way. Sharon snorted. 

“She’s so pathetic. Let me tell you something about Maria Hill. We were best friends in middle school.” 

That was an unexpected turn of events. Maria and Sharon were like polar opposites, how could they have ever been friends? This new information confused Natasha. 

“I know, right? It’s so embarrassing. I don’t even… Whatever,” Sharon continued, “so then in eighth grade, I started going out with my first boyfriend James, who was totally gorgeous, but then he moved to Indiana. Anyways, Maria was like weirdly jealous of him. Like if I would blow her off to hang out with James she’d be like: why didn’t you call me back? And I’d be like:  _ why are you so obsessed with me? _ So then for my birthday party, which was an all girls pool party I was like:  _ Maria, I can’t invite you because I think you’re a lesbian. _ And I couldn’t have a lesbian at my party. There were going to be girls there in their bathing suits. I mean, she was a lesbian. So then her mom called my mom and started yelling at her. It was so retarded. Then she dropped out of school because nobody would talk to her. When she came back in the fall for high school, all of her hair was cut off and she was totally weird. Now I guess she’s on crack.” 

Natasha had a lot to take in hearing this. First of all, Maria and Sharon being friends was the weirdest thing to her ever. Sharon dumping Maria for her then boyfriend seemed like the thing Sharon would do, but then her jumping to conclusions and spreading this rumour about Maria being gay. Not cool. Now she understood the words written in the burn book about Maria. Sharon really was so self-absorbed that she completely didn’t see what her part was in Maria leaving school. Natasha felt bad for her friend and a new-found sympathy for Maria grew inside of her, she would make this plan work. Not just for her, but to get justice for her friend. Her actual friend. 

“Oh my God, I love your skirt,” Natasha’s train of thought was interrupted by Sharon talking to a girl that walked past them wearing a checkered skirt. 

“”Where did you get it?” 

“It was my mom’s in the eighties,” the girl answered, taken aback by Sharon’s liking for it. A sharp intake of breath was Sharon’s reaction. “Vintage, so adorable,” she added. 

“Thanks,” the girl said and walked away, clearly proud of herself because none other than Sharon Carter had just complimented her. Little did she know that Sharon had just turned back to Natasha to claim the exact opposite of what she’d just told the girl. 

“That is the ugliest F-ing skirt I have ever seen.” 

The whole scene reminded Natasha of the first day she’d met Sharon. She looked down at the bracelet Yelena had made for her and she still wore every day. Just like with the skirt, Sharon had called it adorable, did she ever mean any of it? Natasha couldn’t show her dislike for Sharon growing even bigger so she put up her best friendly face. 

“So, are you going to send any candy canes?” Natasha tried changing the subject before things fell silent. 

“No, I don’t send them, I just get them. So, you better send me one bi*tch. Love you,” Sharon said as she waved a kiss at Natasha and walked off. 

Natasha had just come up with a great plan. She would most definitely send Sharon a candy cane. She was going to use three candy canes to crack Pepper Potts. Maria would be so proud of her. She’d texted her about the plan later that day after school. 

* * *

On the next day, it was candy cane time and Clint being on the student’s activity committee was assigned to walk around dressed like Santa to hand out the candy canes in every classroom. During third period he stumbled into Natasha’s classroom. She was having English literature together with Pepper at the time so this was the ideal moment for Santa to interrupt. The teacher gave Clint permission to read the names off of his list and hand them the candy canes that were sent out to them.

“Jane Foster?” A girl with brown hair in the front raised her hand. 

“Two for you,” Clint said while handing them to her. 

“Happy Hogan? Four for you Happy Hogan, you go Happy Hogan!” Clint yelled excitedly. 

“And the last one is Natalia Romanoff, do we have a Natalia Romanoff here?” 

“It’s Natasha,” the redhead played along. 

“Oh, here you go Natasha. One for you.” 

Pepper wanted to ask Clint if there had been a mistake, but the minute he noticed her desperation, he blocked it off immediately. 

“And none for Pepper Potts, bye,” he said before rushing out of the classroom. 

Pepper looked confused and a little bit offended that she didn’t get a candy cane. She got one every year. 

“Who’s it from?” she asked Natasha curiously. 

“Thanks for being such a great friend, love Sharon,” Natasha read out loud before she put the candy cane on the desk in front of her. Pepper couldn’t believe it and had to see for herself, she took the candy can and started reading the little note attached to it. It indeed said the words Natasha had just read out loud. The redhead could see little cracks forming on the surface already. Once Pepper thought Sharon was mad at her the secrets would start pouring out. All she had to do was wait for one they could use. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: Nick Fury sees a side of his oldest daughter he hadn't seen before. Pepper can't make fetch happen and she cracks.


	7. Stop trying to make fetch happen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A talent show full of surprises and Natasha wins the jackpot.

The weekend before the Christmas break, the long-awaited talent show was taking place. Natasha and the Plastics had been practising non-stop after school so it was no wonder that Nick Fury was very curious for his oldest daughter’s performance. Natasha had made sure him and Yelena had good seats in on of the first rows of the school’s theatre so they had the best view. 

The Plastics weren’t the only ones that would perform tonight. Sam Wilson had some great rapping skills that he wanted to show off, a student named Stephen Strange would be doing magic and Clint would be showcasing his knife-throwing skills together with his “assistant” for the night, Kate Bishop. To end on a high note, the Plastics were asked to be the closing act. This meant Natasha would be spending a lot of time backstage with Pepper, Wanda and Sharon. 

Since Pepper thought Sharon was mad at her, Natasha would make use of the situation to try to get some useful info out of her. While Phil Coulson was welcoming the audience and giving his opening speech, Natasha, Pepper and Wanda were helping each other with their makeup. Pepper still hadn’t let go of the candy cane problem. 

“I mean, why would Sharon send you candy canes and not me?” Pepper asked. Suspenseful music could be heard from the stage where Clint and Kate were performing their opening act. 

“Maybe she forgot about you,” Wanda tried to think of a reason. 

“Yeah, Sharon has been acting kinda weird lately. Is something bothering her?” Natasha subtly asked, trying to get something out of them. 

“Well… I mean, her parents totally don’t sleep in the same bed anymore. If that’s what you mean,” Pepper said in between applying lipstick. “Oh no, don’t tell her I told you that,” she added once she realised what she’d let slip. This wasn’t very useful info for Natasha anyways, but it was a start. The cracks were getting deeper and wider each time. 

After the three girls had their makeup done, Sharon was fashionably late, as always. Wanda had suggested she’d help Sharon with hers. Natasha and Pepper had decided to watch some of the performances from backstage. Clint had just finished his act and walked past her excitedly. He couldn’t interact too much with Nat, a nickname he had recently given her, since Pepper was with her, but he showed her he wanted to wish her good luck by winking at her. The curtains fell and principal Coulson was introducing the second act. Stephen Strange’s magic show was up. When the music started to play, Pepper found a moment to talk again. 

“No offence, but why would she even send you a candy cane? She doesn’t even like you all that much. Especially after what happened with Steve. Maybe she feels weird around me because I am the only one that knows about her nose job…” Realisation came soon after. “Oh my God, you didn’t hear that,” Pepper added slightly worried. 

The evening went on like that. Pepper spoiling Sharon’s secrets, but none of them were useful, yet. Natasha had feigned going to the bathroom backstage because she’d seen Maria and Clint entering one of the dressing rooms after signalling her to come over. 

“Status report?” Maria asked. 

“Nothing useful, yet. I do know Sharon’s gotten a nose job last year and her parents are on the brink of getting a divorce.”

“Yeah, we can’t work with that.”

“I know, but Pepper is spilling this already, we will get there. I have to go back, though. We are up next.”

“Good, you go up there and Jingle Bell that Rock,” Maria said before giving Natasha a hug. Clint joined them and made it a tight group hug. 

“Clint, you were great out there,” Natasha said while they parted. 

“Thank you. See, someone that appreciates my talent,” he said before elbowing Maria on her arm. Maria just shrugged in response. 

“Good luck, Natalia,” she said right before Natasha was out of the room. The redhead looked over her shoulder and smiled at her friends.

“Are you still pissed they are using your original choreography?” Clint asked when Natasha was out of earshot. 

“Shut up,” Maria responded with a frown on her face. That was the moment Sam Wilson and his “backup dancers” decided to claim the dressing room to get out of their track suits. 

“Sorry, guys,” Maria started to apologise when walking towards the door with Clint in front of her. 

“Nah, it’s okay,” Sam said, “If there is one thing you need to apologise for, it is for not being up there with those girls. I’d rather see you shaking that  _ thang _ .” 

Clint couldn’t help himself and bursted out laughing when he was just out the door. Maria slapped him on the back. 

“Not a word, Clinton,” she warned him, “not a word.” 

* * *

This is the moment Natasha had been working towards. Practising for weeks, to know one little dance number. To say she was nervous was an understatement. She’d never really performed a dance act before, let alone for an audience. She’d always admired ballet, just like her mother had. But having hobbies at the orphanage was impossible because that meant they had to invest money in you and all the money they received went to food and clothes. When she heard she’d get adopted with her younger sister she was thrilled and had hoped to be able to finally become a ballerina herself, but Nick’s plans didn’t have ballet classes in them. He asked her if she was still interested over the summer when they just moved here and he’d even looked up a few places that might offer some classes, but she wanted to settle in first. She appreciated his effort though, and maybe if she did well today, she might take him up on his offer. 

Here she was in a scantily clad Santa outfit on the stage of the school’s theatre, Sharon at her side. Nick and Yelena were sitting in the audience with many of her schoolmates and their parents. Natasha was lucky she had a great figure, although she wasn’t sure what her father was going to think of her outfit and her showing this much skin. She hoped he could see past that. Natasha heard Phil start with his closing speech and after that he would announce them as their final act. She tried to relax as much as she could. She would be fine. She knew this dance by now, she’d even learned the lyrics to the song. In a few seconds the curtains would open and all eyes would be focused on her and the Plastics. She another deep breath. She wasn’t going to ruin their act, she knew that much was true. 

“Pepper, switch places with Natasha,” Sharond said. Natasha was definitely not going to ruin their act. 

“But I am always on your left,” Pepper responded. 

“Well that was when there were three of us and you were the tallest. Now Natasha goes in the middle with me. Pepper couldn’t believe it. 

“The whole dance will be backwards. I am  _ always  _ on your left,” she repeated. 

“And right now you’re getting on my last nerves. Switch,” Sharon ordered. 

Pepper being at Sharon’s beck and call did what was asked of her and switched places, just in time before the curtains started opening again. 

Santa’s helpers smiled at the audience and Pepper walked up to the radio that was placed in the front of the stage to start their song. Jingle Bell Rock soon started playing and the first part of their dance went smoothly. Natasha noticed Nick looking slightly shocked in the audience and Sharon’s mother, Peggy, holding a camera like a proud mom. 

As expected, it stopped going smoothly at a certain part. When the chorus started, the girls were supposed to turn towards each other, but with Pepper being on the other side, she turned to the wrong side. Sharon tried steering her in the right direction, but completely underestimated the force she used to push Pepper around which resulted into Pepper stumbling forward, kicking the radio and then silence. Natasha was too inexperienced in social gatherings during high school to be familiar with the concept of “awkward”, but she had the feeling this exact moment qualified. Her and the Plastics just stood there in position while the music stopped. The audience was staring them down and nothing happened. Something had to happen. They couldn’t just stop here. That’s when Natasha came up with an idea. Before she knew it, she started singing the chorus to the song. According to Maria, everyone should know it so hopefully the others would follow soon. 

In the audience, Steve soon picked up the hint and started singing along. As did Jessica Jones, Darcy Lewis, Thor, Jane Foster… Before they knew it, the whole crowd was singing along. Luckily Mrs. May knew the chords to the song on the piano and she started playing along too. Their closing act was a success and the audience loved it. Once it was over, the four of them bowed and left the stage. Backstage they hugged each other and were still running on their adrenaline high for a while. After sharing a moment of excitement with the Plastics, Natasha could feel an arm around her shoulder. She looked sideways to see who it belonged to and couldn’t help the blush creeping up on her. Steve had walked up to them and had put his arms around Natasha and Sharon as a way to greet them. He soon dropped his hand on her shoulder when he leaned in for a kiss from Sharon, which she annoyedly rejected: “Uuh, lip gloss,” she’d responded. Sam Wilson chose that moment to walk by and compliment Natasha. 

“Hey, good job Africa,” he said and winked at her. Natasha muttered a thanks and smiled back at him. 

“Natasha’s blushing,” Pepper remarked. Natasha had no way to hide her crush on Steve now. 

“Oh my God, you totally have a crush on that guy.”

_ Oh, so they think I have a crush on Sam… _ Natasha thought. 

“No, I don’t,” she responded. They didn’t have to think Natasha was into Sam so they could try to set her up with him. She wanted none of that. Sam was great, but she didn’t see him that way. 

“That’s why you wanted to join the mathletes,” Pepper added, looking as if she found the last piece of the puzzle. Before Natasha could respond Steve chimed in. 

“Mathletes? You hate maths.” 

Oh no, Steve couldn’t know she loved maths. He would think she was a nerd, like those weird space guys from their maths class. 

“Look at how red she is.” 

Pepper trying to make something out of this didn’t make it any better either. Sharon wasn’t having any of it either. She’d told Steve Natasha was with someone so she needed to put an end to this as quickly as possible. Pepper had to shut up, soon. 

“You love him and he totally complimented you. That is so fetch!” 

“Pepper, stop trying to make fetch happen! It’s not going to happen!” 

That would do it. No way would Pepper bring up Sam Wilson again. Sharon’s plan had worked again, she was close to losing a friend over it though. Pepper had to swallow hard after Sharon’s outburst and Natasha noticed. She could not have hoped for a better ending to the evening than Pepper’s cracks getting even bigger, wider and more exposed. She had one week left before the Christmas holiday to fully make her crack. 

* * *

On Tuesday Natasha had literature with Pepper again. The teacher had asked Pepper to read her preparation out loud. They’d gotten a task about the characters of Brutus and Caesar after reading the play written by Shakespeare about the death of Caesar. They had to take a character’s side in the story and explain why they’d chosen that side. So Pepper started with a lot of eagerness and empathy for Brutus.

"Why should Caesar get to stomp around like a giant, while the rest of us try not to get smushed under his big feet? What's so great about Caesar? Hm? Brutus is just as cute as Caesar. Brutus is just as smart as Caesar. People totally like Brutus just as much as they like Caesar. And when did it become okay for one person to be the boss of everybody, huh? Because that's not what Rome is about. We should totally just stab Caesar!"

Like a musical crescendo, Pepper’s voice had gotten louder and louder during her reading until she yelled the last sentence and then went completely silent again. When Natasha looked up at Pepper she knew it happened. Pepper Potts had cracked. 

Natasha maybe wanted revenge on Sharon, but she still felt bad for Pepper. After their literature class, she and Pepper headed to the girl’s bathroom where Natasha would try to calm her down a bit. Her intentions were nothing but well and apparently that meant Karma was on her side. Before she knew it, Pepper started spilling secrets like a waterfall again. 

“If you even knew how mean she really is,” Pepper started on the verge of tears. 

“You know, I’m not allowed to wear hoop earrings, right… Yes, that’s right! Two years ago she told me that hoop earrings were  _ her  _ thing and that I wasn’t allowed to wear them anymore. Then for Christmas, my parents got me these really expensive gold white hoops and I had to pretend I didn’t even like them. It was so sad.”

Now the tears started pouring out. Natasha reached out to Pepper to show her that she supported her and that it was okay for Pepper to be mad. If only she could let Pepper know what her actual plans with Sharon were, she’d never had to make her feel so bad and maybe Pepper would have helped her and Maria anyways, but she couldn’t blow her cover. Natasha was starting to feel bad that they were screwing with Pepper’s confidence and so far hadn’t gotten anything useful. Things would be so much easier if Pepper knew Natasha was a double agent of sorts, but she couldn’t trust Pepper yet. Maybe she was just telling her all this bad stuff about Sharon because she was vulnerable. When Natasha heard the next words coming out of Pepper’s mouth, she knew she made the right decision. Cracking Pepper was indeed the key to unlock all the dirty secrets on Sharon Carter. 

“You know,” Pepper had started, “she cheats on Steve. Every Thursday she says she’s doing SAT prep, but really she’s hooking up with Brock Rumlow in the projection room above the auditorium… I never told anybody that, because… I am  _ such  _ a good friend.” 

Jackpot! 

Pepper’s secret had put the plan back in motion. Natasha would report to Maria and Clint again after school and they had the whole Christmas break to come up with even better ways to sabotage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking with me, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. 
> 
> Next up: Plastics sabotage and Swedish nutrition bars.


	8. The projection room above the auditorium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maria, Clint and Natasha are heading towards their first succes. Or not?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short update, a day early. I'm sorry it isn't longer, I am doing extra hours at work and I didn't have a lot of time. 
> 
> Enjoy!

The first step of the newfound plan was to make Steve catch Sharon in the act. So every Thursday afternoon, they would try to lead Steve to the projection room above the auditorium. Clint had come up with a few ways to do so. The first one would be tested this week. 

Every two weeks on Thursday afternoon Steve had swimming practice. The guys would meet up in the school’s gymnasium and go to the pool from there on. Sometimes they would just do some weight training to strengthen their chest and arm muscles. Clint had come up with the idea to put up a note and say the swim team would meet up in the projection room above the auditorium. So on Thursday Natasha and Maria were on the lookout and saw Sharon and Brock enter the projection room as expected. Clint had put up his note so a few minutes later they saw Steve going up the steps to the projection room. This would be their moment of victory. Natasha could feel her palms get a bit sweaty, her throat become dry and her heart started beating very quickly. She was nervous and excited at the same time. Maria was so close to her, she was wondering if she could hear her heart too. Steve was standing in front of the door now, slowly raising his hand towards the doorknob. Maria and Natasha stopped looking and hid around the corner. Still waiting for their moment of glory. But it didn’t happen. 

For some reason the doorknob was blocked, while Steve was supposed to enter smoothly and catch them in the act, he struggled with opening the door. He turned the knob, shook a little with it, but nothing. The door sure couldn’t be locked, no student had a key to any of the classrooms, or did Sharon somehow get one? Before Natasha was able to think any further the door gave in and in stumbled Steve. Maria and Natasha couldn’t see what he just ran into, but given his reaction, it was not what they had hoped for him to see. Sharon and Brock had probably been able to hide because of the rambling door. In two weeks they would try again.

A solution for the second step in their plan were Kalteen bars. Clint and Maria had come over for a brainstorm session one night when Clint had asked what Kalteen bars were. He’d found a package in the cupboard at Nat’s house. Natasha had explained they were some weird Swedish nutrition bars Nick used to give to the players in the football teams he coached while they were in Africa to help the players have a stable weight. In other words, they made most players gain weight, because Nick’s football teams mostly consisted of young boys living on the streets. Having them eat those bars, gave them enough energy to play football and not lose weight in the process. It was a win-win for those kids, but if you already had a large enough food intake, those bars would only increase your weight. If they wanted Sharon to get rid of her hot body, they needed her to eat Kalteen bars and that was exactly what they would be doing. If Sharon would bring up losing weight again, Natasha would suggest the Kalteen bars. She, Clint and Maria would just need to come up with a good story about the bars, but they could do that later on. 

One day during lunch Sharon started complaining about her weight again and how she still needed to lose those three pounds. She claimed the holidays hadn’t done any good to her and now she had even more pounds to lose. In reality, Natasha didn’t see any difference and thought Sharon still looked good. She couldn’t believe she could think she was too fat, but she saw this as the perfect opportunity to bring up the Kalteen bars. She promised she would bring Sharon some of the ‘good stuff’ the next day. 

“Here,” she said when she handed Sharon one of the Kalteen bars she’d brought from home, “they’re these weird nutrition bars my tutor, Carol, used to lose weight.”

Sharon needed no further explanation and immediately opened the wrapper and took a bite. After doing so she showed interest in the label. 

“It’s all in like Swedish or something,” she said with her mouth full and a frown on her face. 

“Yeah, there is some ingredient in them that’s not legal in the US yet,” Natasha explained. 

“Ephedrine?”

“No.”

“Phentermine?” Sharon tried again. 

"No. It burns carbs. It just burns up all your carbs,” Natasha tried to deviate the topic. She was impressed by the illegal ingredients Sharon knew. She can’t do simple maths, but she knows stuff like this… 

Soon it was the third week of school after the Christmas holiday and Sharon was enjoying her new diet. She was also still very much cheating on Steve with Brock Rumlow so when it was Thursday, plan B would be set in motion. Maria had become ill since the flu was going around North Shore High School and since Nat and Clint were both needed to get Steve to the projection room they didn’t have anyone on the lookout. They had fixed the door though, so that would no longer be a problem. Waiting for another two weeks would be pointless so Maria had given them the go to carry on with the plan without having someone at her lookout post. 

It was afternoon and Steve’s swim practice was supposed to start in fifteen minutes. Before going to the gym, he was standing in the hallway, talking to Thor, who was on the swim team with him. Natasha walked up to them according to the plan with her purse on her right side. This way Clint would have no trouble sweeping it up and running off with it. Knowing Steve, he would run after Clint and try to be the hero of the day. The only problem was that Clint would have to run fast enough to make it to the projection room before Steve would be able to catch up with him. 

“Hey you,” Natasha said as she reached Steve and Thor in the hallway and lightly patted Steve on his arm. 

“Hey,” he greeted back and a big smile grew on his face, “how are you?” he asked. 

Before Natasha was able to answer, Clint came in wearing a black balaclava to make himself unrecognizable and with one swift move her purse was gone. So was Clint. 

“Oh no, my purse! Someone stop him!” Natasha screamed out. If the Plastics had taught her one thing, it was to be overly dramatic in the most ridiculous situations. 

Steve didn’t have to think twice and immediately ran off after Clint. Clint not being as athletic as Steve just hoped he could reach the projection room before Steve had caught up to him. Just in case Steve was faster, he’d thrown the door of the auditorium in Steve’s face while entering and that gave Clint a small lead again of four stairs. Once he was at the top, all he had to do was open the door and make sure Steve saw what he needed to see. The view that they were met with was one that neither had expected though. Both guys were standing in the door opening, panting heavily from their sprint through the school hallways. Clint had to pull up his balaclava for a second because he needed to know if he was really seeing this. 

“Coach Quill?” he asked, shock written all over his face. Steve had an equally flabbergasted expression on his face. At that moment the girl with whom they found coach Quill in a compromising position turned her face around. 

“Gamora?” The guys were even more surprised at that. Their lousy gym teacher with one of the cool space nerds. Unbelievable. Clint  _ had  _ to tell Natasha about this. 

They might have not gotten the result they wanted from their plan B, but they sure as hell got some juicy gossip in return. 

Later that week Natasha heard Sharon wasn’t in the projection room with Brock Rumlow because Brock Rumlow, like Maria, had gotten ill with the flu. They would have another chance at plan C in two weeks, but Natasha had come up with a plan of her own and she would set it up next week. They would get their revenge on Sharon Carter. One way or another. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for still being here. 
> 
> PS: I don't hate MCU Sharon, I just needed someone to be in Regina George's place. I've been working on the end of this fanfic and she gets a nice one too, promise!


	9. You smell like a baby prostitute

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Halfway there

As the days went by, Natasha was starting to turn more and more into a Plastic herself. She dressed like them, acted like them and even spoke like them. The people at school started to notice her too more and more. One time Natasha wore army pants and flip-flops to school and the next week she saw at least three other girls wearing army pants and flip-flops. 

The weird thing about hanging out with Sharon was that Natasha could hate her, but at the same time she still wanted Sharon to like her. Not like her so the plan could succeed. She actually wanted Sharon to like her and pay attention to her, because as long as she was on Sharon’s good side, she had all the advantages that came with it. 

It was the same story for Pepper. The meaner Sharon was to her or the more Sharon tried to exclude her from their activities together, the more Pepper tried to win her back. Life as a Plastic was toxic, but Pepper knew it was better to be in the Plastics hating your life than to not be in at all. Being with the Plastics was like being famous. Everybody looked at you and just knew stuff about you. As good as the whole school knew Natasha and knew she was the new girl from Africa. Natasha didn’t just look like a Plastic anymore, she’d become one and that didn’t go unnoticed by Maria. 

Natasha had come over to the store where Maria worked again on a Wednesday afternoon and all she could talk about was Sharon. Not because she was reporting back to Maria. Natasha was starting to get obsessed and Maria felt like she should intervene before it got too late. Natasha had to remember that she was just a pawn in their game. 

“She’s not even that good looking if you really look at her,” Natasha told Maria while checking her hair and makeup in the mirror.

“I don’t know,” Maria shrugged uninterestedly, “now that she’s getting fatter, she’s got pretty big jugs.” Maria was clearly done with Sharon being the main topic. She wanted to talk about other stuff, normal stuff… She wanted her friend back. 

“I have this theory that if you cut all her hair off, she’d look like a British man,” Natasha stated proudly, walking to the counter that Maria stood behind. 

“Yeah, I know. You told me that one before,” she sighed, “hey, I’m having an art show in a few weeks. You should take a night off from your double life. I want you to be there.”

“Coolness,” Natasha said, spoken like a true Plastic.

“What is that smell?” Maria asked, suddenly smelling a whiff of perfume coming from Natasha. 

“Sharon gave me some perfume, do you like it?” 

“You smell like a baby prostitute,” Maria remarked and started spraying some air freshener. 

“Thanks?” Natasha wasn’t sure if that was a compliment at all, but everyone always complimented her. 

“No, that wasn’t a compliment.”

“Oh,” Natasha was surprised, “are you mad at me, Maria? Because if you are, please let me make it up to you.”

“What? No, I’m not mad at you. It’s just that, sometimes you get so deep into your role as a Plastic that I tend to forget who you really are. You know how much I dislike them,” Maria explained. She hoped Natasha would somehow get the message. 

“I know, sorry. I guess I’m spending so much time with them, I sometimes can’t tell the difference anymore.” 

Maria’s remark really made Natasha think about her behaviour. She was so far up into being a Plastic, she’d completely forgotten who she was in this new world. Natasha barely knew who she was. She never got time to be herself because as soon as school started she was practically forced into ‘girl world’ and being a Plastic. She had some serious thinking to do once their revenge mission was completed, but for now, she’d have to stick to her role as a Plastic and she was phenomenal at it. At least, that is what she thought without realising she might never be able to step away from being one. 

* * * 

Meanwhile, Natasha had started with her own little plan to get Steve away from Sharon. Instead of the truth coming out and Steve getting hurt, Natasha would try to talk to him, be his friend and maybe in the meantime he would realise Sharon wasn’t his best option. There had to be a reason he had asked her to that Halloween party so many months ago. Natasha always felt drawn to him and she believed Steve could feel a similar pull too. So every time they had maths class together and they would sit in their assigned spots, she’d try to talk to him again. It had worked before. 

When the class was tasked with some individual exercises, Mrs. May was going to distribute the tests they’d made last week. As always, Natasha had probably aced it. She might pretend she hated maths to look cool in front of Steve and the Plastics, but she was still good at it. While Mrs. May was going around the class, this was the perfect opportunity to talk to Steve. Natasha tapped his shoulder and he turned around with his signature smile. 

“I don’t get this, did you get any of these?” she asked, referring to the maths problems in front of her. Steve was about to answer when a piece of paper was laid on Natasha’s table. Mrs. May had just handed her last week’s test back and there was a big red exclamation point next to her outstanding score. “Nice job, Natasha,” Mrs. May said and she walked over to the desk of the person who was next on her stash of tests. Steve had undoubtedly seen her result. “Kinda seems like you get it,” he said and turned back around. 

If Natasha wanted this to work, she would have to commit. So far Steve had known Natasha was good at maths and not once had he asked her for help when she knew his results weren’t being great. If he wasn’t going to ask her to tutor him, then she would make sure she could ask him. For her next test, Natasha made sure she would pass, but not by a lot so it would actually look like she had a hard time with the topic. 

One week later, Mrs. May was handing out the tests again at the end of class. When she was at Natasha’s desk, she laid down the piece of paper that still had an okay score, but definitely too low for Natasha’s abilities. “Not your best,” she’d remarked. That made some eyebrows rise and Sam Wilson couldn’t help himself to lean over and see for himself. “Damn, Africa. What happened?” Steve turned to her too. He had a big smile on his face and must have missed the previous remarks. He looked proud so Natasha assumed he had a good result. 

“How did you do?” he asked. 

“Not so good,” Natasha said, acting as if she was disappointed. 

“You know, I think I need a tutor.”

“I’ll tutor you if you want to get together after school or something,” Steve offered. 

“Don’t you think Sharon would mind?” 

“No, you guys are friends,” Steve answered quickly, but then his face dropped and realisation dawned on him. Sharon was very possessive and she actually would mind.

“Or maybe we just won’t tell her,” he added nervously. 

That is how Natasha found herself at Steve’s house after school. She’d gone home with him as soon as the bell rang. They’d met up at what Natasha assumed to be his car in the school parking lot. They would try to avoid everyone they knew and just sneak out together as quick as they could. Nobody had to see them leave together, especially not Sharon. It was as if they were on the run or something. Once in the car and at a further distance from the school Natasha felt a bit more relaxed. So relaxed she even dared to put her feet up on the dash. 

“I had no idea football captain Steve Rogers would own a blue pick-up truck,” Natasha stated smugly, throwing a smile his way. Steve carefully looked over to her, he was a safe driver after all. 

“I don’t own it, we’re borrowing so keep your feet of the dash,” he said tensely. Natasha couldn’t tell if he was tense because of the way they had to sneak out or because they had some busy traffic ahead. She assumed the first. 

“Relax, Steve. Nobody saw us together,” she tried to reassure him. 

“You don’t know that,” he said defensively. 

“Besides it’s not like we are doing anything wrong.”

“Right,” he clenched his jaw, “you tell Sharon that when she hears about us leaving together.” 

“Come on. This was your idea,” Natasha said, “if Sharon finds out, we’ll make something up.”

“Like what?”

“Like, my father couldn’t pick me up and you offered me a ride. See it’s as easy as that. The truth is a matter of circumstances, it’s not all things to all people all the time.”  _ And neither am I  _ Natasha added in her mind. She didn’t know if that put Steve’s mind at ease a little, but she could see he had loosened his tight grip on the steering wheel so it had to count for something. 

After some time in the car, Steve pulled up to a two-story house with dark brown bricks. The number next to the front door read ‘37’ in gold. He parked the car in front of the garage, explaining that he still had to take it back to his mother’s store when she was done working and then she’d drive them back home in her car. 

Once inside, Natasha took in her environment. He’d opted for them to sit in the living room because they had a large table there to fit both their books and notepads. Steve being a real gentleman had offered her a drink, which he was getting from the kitchen while Natasha inspected the room. 

The furniture looked a bit old-fashioned, but it also looked very Steve and his mother. Natasha had met his mother once before when she got to their store again to pick up her canvas early September. Sarah Rogers came across as a very warm and patient woman. Natasha could see where Steve had that positive energy from. So far he hadn’t mentioned his father and given the picture frames that were up in the living room, he didn’t seem to be around. Natasha didn’t feel comfortable enough to ask though. She didn’t want to feel like an intruder. Being at his house after school was already a big step forward in her plan of getting on his radar again. 

Just when Natasha was getting installed in the dining area of the living room, Steve walked in with two large glasses of water and a platter filled with fruit and cookies. 

“I didn’t ask you if you were hungry, so I brought a few options with me from the kitchen just in case,” he said sheepishly. 

“Sure, let’s eat something first,” Natasha smiled in response. 

“So how is living in Evanston for you?” Steve asked, trying to make small talk during snacktime. 

“It’s okay, I guess. Living here. I do miss some of the friends I have back in Africa, but we email often so there’s that. Besides I thought it would get boring easily settling down in one place, but it turns out a lot of things happen here too. Or well, enough happens to keep me entertained.”

“Oh, like what?” 

“Well, I got to decorate my own little space for the first time and that is when I met you during my first week here and now I am in your house. So there’s that. I’ve made some pretty great friends at school too. Nick’s cooking dinner wearing an apron almost every night, which is a great sight.” 

“Who’s Nick?” Steve asked curiously. He wondered if her African prince could be living with her already, she didn’t say she misses him. 

“He’s my…,” Natasha hesitated if she would throw in the a-word, but for some reason she felt like she could open up while talking to Steve. “He’s my adoptive father,” she said proudly. 

“I didn’t know you were adopted.” Steve was genuinely surprised. When he saw the hesitation on Natasha’s face, he’d expected her royal secret to come out, which he already kinda knew about. He didn’t see this revelation coming. 

“Yeah, I tend to not tell too many people. I mean, I told some of my friends and now you.”

“Sharon never-”

“Sharon doesn’t know,” Natasha quickly interrupted him. Before Steve could think anything of her not sharing private info with her supposed ‘friend’ she added: “I just never found the right moment to tell her and she never even met him, so it was never brought up.” 

“It’s okay, you don’t have to explain it to me. I guess I kinda know what it’s like to try to be open with Sharon. You never know if she’s in the mood for conversations like this.”

“Yeah, exactly,” Natasha agreed. 

“You would’ve seen Nick in a few hours when you drop me off at home so I felt like I should tell you. We don’t really look alike. You’ll understand when you see him,” she explained. Steve nodded along and smiled at her. The corner of his mouth was covered with some dry crumbs from the biscuit he’d just put in his mouth. Natasha couldn’t help but stare at his lips. Steve noticed she was looking at his mouth so she was quick to say something about it. 

“You have some…” Natasha explained while pointing with her finger to her own mouth. 

“Oh, thanks,” Steve said while wiping it off. He smiled at her nervously. 

“I am not a messy eater, by the way.”

“It’s okay, the cookies taste amazing,” Natasha responded. She’d already tried one before. 

“Thanks, I’ll let my mom know,” Steve said with a smile. 

“Anyways, we should get started,” Natasha suggested. 

“Right, let me clean up a bit and then we can jump right on it.” 

Steve left to the kitchen with the leftover food while Natasha was setting up everything they needed. She just finished opening the books on the right pages when Steve walked back in and took his seat back next to her. 

“So how do you want to do this? Should I explain the material to you or…?” He asked. 

“Maybe we could go over the material together and I could tell you which parts I didn’t really get. Then we could try some exercises after to see if I got it this time,” Natasha suggested and that is exactly what they did. They read through the theory of their new chapter together and Natasha asked Steve some questions or pointed out whatever it was she didn’t understand yet. Of course she understood everything, so technically she was giving him an opportunity to learn, which wasn’t a bad thing if you looked at it. She was helping him become better, even if she had to pretend she wasn’t good at it herself. After going through all the material they did some exercises together which turned out to be fairly easy. Natasha and Steve complemented each other. When he was stuck at some part she would help him and when she didn’t know how to go further he would suggest her a different option from the one she tried already. They were a great duo. 

“You know, to finish up, maybe we could each do this one individually and see what we have for an answer afterwards?” 

“Yeah, that sounds like a great idea, Steve. Whoever finishes first gets a price?” she asked with a smug smile. She knew she’d be the first to finish. 

“And what would that price be?” Steve asked. Natasha was trying to think of something when she saw something interesting in his pencil case. 

“If I win, I get my pencil back,” Natasha stated. 

“What?” Steve asked confusedly. 

“My pencil,” Natasha said when she took it out of his pencil case, “you ‘borrowed’ it during our first class together, but I never got it back.”

“Oh, did I?” Steve asked sheepishly. It was clear he was just messing with her and pretending to not remember. 

“Yes you did,” Natasha said and gave him a playful slap on his arm. Steve started laughing at that. “I’m sorry, I guess I kinda got attached to it,” he joked back. 

“Apology accepted,” Natasha quipped back with a smile on her face. “So, do we have a deal?” she asked. 

“Yes, you better get started if you ever want your pencil back,” Steve teased and then brought his focus back to his books. Natasha immediately followed his example and started with the exercise herself. 

As expected, she finished in no time. She put her pen down and started looking over at Steve. She scooted a little closer to see what he was up to and where he was at. He looked at her and shook his head with a smile. He’d been beaten, but he didn’t care at all. He tried to focus back on his exercise, which had gotten a little bit harder now that Natasha had gotten closer to him. He tried to ignore the effect she had on him, but he couldn’t help but to secretly still want her. He’d thought forgetting about her would be easier when he would get back with Sharon, but it had only made things more complicated for him. Being Sharon’s boyfriend also meant having lunch with her friends and that meant he saw Natasha almost every day at school. They didn’t talk much during their lunches and it wasn’t like he could get into many of the conversations, but he did notice she never brought up her boyfriend or fiancé or whatever it was Sharon had told him at the Halloween party. It almost felt like this guy she was seeing didn’t exist. After seeing Pepper trying to play matchmaker between Natasha and Sam Wilson at the talent show he could think of two explanations. Natasha and her prince had either broken up or she just hadn’t told all of the girls so that is why he was never brought up during lunch. Steve was with Sharon now anyways, he shouldn’t be thinking about Natasha being single or not. 

Thinking about her and being able to smell her perfume resulted in him making a mistake so he had to redo some of the exercise. So far for being her tutor. Steve had the feeling she wouldn’t ask him for extra maths lessons anytime soon. Maybe she’d ask Sam Wilson and he would ask her out on a date… Even while he had a hard time concentrating, Steve was able to finish the exercise eventually. 

“So what did you get?” Natasha asked curiously. She took Steve’s piece of paper and laid it next to hers in between them so they could compare their answers. 

“Well, the first time I did it, I got a 0. But I realised I made a mistake so I redid it and then I got 1,” he explained proudly, looking at her face to see her reaction. Natasha looked back into his eyes and smiled at him. 

“I got 1 too,” she said. Steve couldn’t help but smile back at her. 

“Yeah, you have to check it because sometimes the product of two negative integers is a positive number,” he explained. Steve didn’t know why he was explaining this to Natasha at all since she clearly knew about this already. He just felt like he had to say something to her. He could feel the tension building between them and couldn’t stop staring at her. 

“Yeah, like - 4 and - 6,” Natasha responded by giving him an example. 

“Sounds right,” he nodded along. He couldn’t help but notice how soft her lips looked. 

“Well, you’re a good tutor,” Natasha said, leaning in a little. Steve swallowed, he looked back into her eyes and noticed she was looking at his lips, just like he was before. Natasha’s eyes went up slowly and she noticed Steve had caught her staring, but instead of putting distance between them he leaned forward just like her. The magnetic pull from their first meeting was back and before they knew it their lips were touching. It wasn’t clear to Steve who had initiated the kiss, but he knew he liked the feeling of her lips against his. He deepened their kiss, but when he felt Natasha’s hand coming up to his face to pull him closer he knew he had to stop this before something else happened. Steve pulled away abruptly, Natasha looked at him in surprise. 

“Look, we can’t do this. It’s not fair to Sharon and…,” Steve started, but he was cut off by Natasha before he could finish his sentence. 

“Why do you like her?” she asked. She couldn’t believe Steve was still going for Sharon after feeling how great their kiss was.

“I know she can be really mean sometimes, but-”

“Then why do you like her?”

“Why do you? Look there’s good and bad in everybody. She’s just a little more upfront about it,” Steve tried to defend his girlfriend. Natasha couldn’t believe he was trying to stick up for Sharon. He had to know what was really going on. She couldn’t hold it in any longer. She didn't want to hurt him, but he could better hear it from her now instead of finding out the way they were planning to. It just came out, like word vomit. 

“She’s cheating on you,” the redhead blurted out. Steve’s face fell. 

“What?” he asked her. Not believing any of it at first. 

“Pepper told me and when I knew I… I had to be sure of it so I went to check and I saw it myself,” Natasha started to explain, “every Thursday she meets up with Brock Rumlow in the projection room above the auditorium. I’m sorry, Steve. I know that doesn’t justify what just happened between us, but you should know.” Steve was still at a loss of words so he just nodded along. The silence between them started to get a bit awkward so Natasha took a glance at the clock and noticed almost two hours had passed. 

“Steve, I told my father I’d be home by 6.”

“Right, sure. Sorry. I’ll take you home,” he responded. 

* * * 

That evening Natasha got a text message from Sharon to tell her to come over. So after dinner Nick had driven her to Sharon’s house. Natasha thanked him for driving her there and said she’d catch a ride home with Pepper on the way back. She rushed inside and immediately went upstairs to Sharon’s room. There she was crying. Tears were streaming down her face and her eyes looked red and puffy. Natasha knew exactly what had happened earlier, but she asked anyway. 

“Sharon, what happened?” she said while walking closer to her. The blond looked up to her, but couldn’t muster up the words. 

“Steve broke up with her,” Pepper explained. 

“Did he say why?” Wanda asked. She’d probably arrived not much more before Natasha. 

“Somebody told him about Brock Rumlow,” Sharon cried out. 

“Who?” Pepper asked, looking over at Natasha because she’d told her about it recently. 

“Some guy on the swimming team,” Sharon said, “I still can’t believe it. I gave him everything.” They all noticed Sharon was having it bad, but there wasn’t much that they could do besides be there for her. 

“Do you want to do something fun?” Wanda asked all of a sudden. Sharon looked up at her with a half smile. Wanda knew everything about having fun. 

“Do you want to go to Taco Bell?” she asked her heartbroken friend excitedly. Sharon started fuming after hearing her suggestion. 

“I can’t go to Taco Bell, I’m on an all carb diet,” she yelled out, “God, Wanda, you are so  _ stupid _ !” Sharon stormed off after that. Pepper soon ran off after her, she felt guilty for sharing what she knew with Natasha. And even though Natasha hadn’t told Steve as far as she knew, someone might’ve overheard them in the bathroom. 

Natasha saw this as the perfect opportunity to talk to Wanda alone for once and be nice to her so she could win her over. She’d cracked Pepper, so now it was Wanda’s turn to change sides. 

“You’re not stupid, Wanda,” she reasured her. 

“No, I am actually,” Wanda started, “I’m failing almost all my classes.” Natasha wasn’t going to give up though. 

“There must be something you’re good at.” Wanda started thinking after that when all of a sudden a smile came on her face. 

“I can get my whole fist in my mouth. Wanna see?” she asked excitedly. 

“No, that’s okay. Anything else?” the redhead tried again. 

“I’m kinda psychic, I have a fifth sense,” she said pointing to her head. 

Natasha looked up with wide eyes. 

“What do you mean?” 

“It’s like I have ESPN or something,” Wanda stated. Natasha looked confused, but when Wanda started explaining further, she figured she’d meant ESP. 

“My breasts can always tell when it’s going to rain.”

“Really? That’s amazing!” Natasha tried to be excited about this, but she had a hard time believing this was a real gift. As long as she showed her support for Wanda, it would be okay she thought.

Their plan was working pretty well. Natasha had gotten close to Steve and he had finally dumped Sharon and she was unknowingly eating close to five thousand calories a day. It was time to turn their attention to the ‘Army of Skanks’. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you found this chapter FETCH, please leave a kudo. If not, well that's just too bad, sorry for wasting your time ;)


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